[mod.telecom] Long Cords

charles@c3pe.UUCP (07/30/86)

In article <8607280012.AA15349@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> you write:
>The following is an excerpt from a local bulletin board concerning
>accessing our main computer from home.  Would anybody care to
>comment on the assertion that long telephone cords/long modem cables
>might cause the error rate on a line to go up drastically?

It sounds like the *coiling* of the telephone cord is the most likely
culprit.  Considering the length from home to central office, I really
don't think that shortening the length from wall jack to modem, per se,
helped matters.  I *do* know that automobile ignition wires have a cross-
induction problem when you run them side-by-side for long distances, and if
a data communication path is marginal anyway (as this one sounds), any
"signal-shaping" modifications (like a coil to cut high frequencies??)
would likely only hurt matters.

On the other hand, I'd still be surprised to find that coiling the phone
cord could make any noticeable difference in signal quality.

-Charles Green at C3 Inc.	{{styx!seismo,cvl}!decuac,dolqci}!c3pe!charles
You hear the howling of the Winchester. The voltage spike hits! You crash.-More