Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!rutgers!mailrus!ames!ncar!noao!arizona!joel
From: joel@arizona.edu (Joel Snyder)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.modems
Subject: Re: ARK LDM-4
Message-ID: <8157@megaron.arizona.edu>
Date: 2 Dec 88 17:30:12 GMT
References: <8811301805050FA.GUWI@RAI.CC.FSU.EDU>
Reply-To: jms@mis.arizona.edu (Joel Snyder)
Organization: U of Arizona MIS Dept, Tucson
Lines: 32

In article <8811301805050FA.GUWI@RAI.CC.FSU.EDU> James@FSU.BITNET (James Messer) writes:
asks about the ARK LDM-4.

This is not designed to work with the PSTN; the LDM-4 requires a 
dedicated copper-only (LATA) 4-wire circuit between the two points
you want to connect.  This is slightly different from a V.29-type
modem, which requires an LADA type of circuit.  I'm not sure about
the phone company in whatever city you're writing from, but you probably
can get a LATA circuit between your home and office for only a few
dollars a month, assuming that you live a mile away or less.  For
some reason, the LATAs seem to have been glossed over in the pricing
war to make data users pay through the nose---in Tucson, I can get
an LATA in the same CO for $20/month.  

I don't have the latest information on ARK modems here, but there's
a fifty-fifty chance the modem you have is synchronous only as well,
which means you'll need to make sure that your home and office equipment
are matched to talk synchronous (hint: most aren't).  

On the bright side, we use ARK short-hauls (LDM stands for "Limited
Distance Modem") at 14.4 over local loops all the time, and they work
great!  Every six months, you have to tweak the pots in the front
to bring it back into coordination with the one on the other end, but
it's sturdy gear.

Joel Snyder

PS: I know that an LADA circuit is a 3004, or 2 of the 3002.  But is
there a common nomenclature for LATA circuits?  It usually takes 
3 to 4 people before I can find one who knows what I'm talking about.

jms