BARTH@AI.AI.MIT.EDU (Richard Barth) (01/28/89)
In Info-MODEMS DIGEST V89 #33,
Omer Zak <XLACHA1%WEIZMANN.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU> writes:
... [stuff omitted]
But... there is a tiny problem. To be actually able to communicate at 300
baud, your terminal program must usually be appropriately configured, and
likewise the modem. Some modems can be configured solely by software (AT
commands), but others need switches to be pressed in order to go down from
38400 baud or so to lowly 300 baud.
[more stuff omitted]
So... please be and continue to be accessible to deaf persons via phone by:
1. Making sure that your modem has also the ability to support the Bell
103 standard.
As a related matter, there is an increasingly common tendency of
SYSOPS running whiz-bang modems at gawdamitey baud rates to
_deliberately_prevent_ access to their systems at 300 baud. For some
speed demons, even 1200 is too slow and callers at that rate, too, are
told to get lost.
While it is probably too much to expect all BBS operators to make their
boards accessible to TDDs using Baudot code and Weitbrecht modems
(yes, it's possible - my board has done it for years) it is certainly
reasonable, as Omer notes, to let 300-baud callers read the mail.
Whether you want to let them download or upload at this slow a
rate is another question. But as Omer points out, there is a
continuing effort on the part of the computer oriented members of the
deaf community to induce their Baudot buddies to try ASCII and the
email it makes possible. It is not helpful to have them try it, and
then to find out that many boards won't let them on..