peter%ficc@uunet.uu.net (Peter da Silva) (11/20/89)
Sounds like they have a leak in one of their dialtone containers. `-_-' Peter da Silva <peter@ficc.uu.net> <peter@sugar.hackercorp.com>. 'U` -------------- +1 713 274 5180. "vi is bad because it didn't work after I put jelly in my keyboard." -- Jeffrey W Percival (jwp@larry.sal.wisc.edu)
bote@uunet.uu.net (John Boteler) (11/25/89)
...they asked the tech why they were unable to sustain a modem connection. Ted Koppel writes: >His response was that they were victims of the 'Forest Park Hum'. He >described it as a well known phenomenon in which there is too much >(something) which causes hum on the lines to the point of inabaility >to transmit data. He said that they could buy a conditioned line or >something else very expensive to be able to use a modem. >[Moderator writes: I have never heard of such a thing; that is, an entire >community with noisy lines. How does the telepone man think the half >dozen BBS lines in Forest Park operate presently? All with dedicated, >clean lines?... >Sorry to say, there are some IBT employees who for whatever >reason are very antagonistic toward modem usage, dislike the use of >computers by people at home, and say *whatever* in response to >questions such as [that] posed. They'd love to sell a conditioned line for >the extra bucks per month. I hardly think this is the case here. Most likely, the man on the pole knows more about the condition of the local cable to that section of the community in which Ted's relatives live than anybody else, especially the business office. Perhaps he knows of a chronic problem with an ancient cable run which is leaking water internally, causing a ground, which in turn causes hum. This type of hum is caused by the difference in potential between the CO ground and the ground at that one point. If it is bad enough, it is possible that high speed modem connections could suffer. I find it doubtful that a lineman has any serious motivation for selling services which the business office probably can't even sell properly! Bote NCN NudesLine 703-241-BARE -- VOICE only, Touch-Tone (TM) accessible {zardoz|uunet!tgate|cos!}ka3ovk!media!csense!bote