dial-up experiences (was Re: question aaout ISP's)

[Jim Brain]

Cameron Kaiser wrote:
>> That sounds fancier than the VIC Modem... that one didn't even connect
>> to the wall directly - you picked up a regular phone, dial or touch-
>> tone, dialled your number, waited for carrier, and, this is the tricky
>> part, before the far end disconnected, you had to detach the coiled
>> handset cord from the receiver and plug it into the modem.  I probably
>> had about an 80%-90% success rate without having to dial again.
>>
>> It made the modem cheap, but a bit fiddly to use.  If phones had been
>> cheaper then, it might have made sense to scrap one out and make a
>> simple switch-box, but I never had the parts on hand to try it.
>>     
>
> I don't remember doing this with my VICMODEM, I think (though I was younger
> then) that we had a splitter.
>
> The 1660 was luxury by comparison though.
>
>   
I remember doing the "pull the handset cord" thing, but I also remember 
the splitter idea.

Our rural lines were so bad I couldn't even get that modem to work at 
300.  I did call some buddies at 150bps, but it was far easier to just 
talk on the phone.

Jim


-- 
Jim Brain, Brain Innovations                                      (X)
brain at jbrain.com 
Dabbling in WWW, Embedded Systems, Old CBM computers, and Good Times! 
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