kieffer@UNCAEDU.BITNET (06/17/87)
One of our faculty members will be moving to Europe for a while and plans to take his micro to Europe. We already hashed out the potential and real problems with the micro, but we are left wondering about whether European modem frequency standards are different from the those used in North America. I would appreciate getting some comments about this from the European use community. Rom Kieffer University of Calgary Calgary, Alberta Canada
lars@ACC.ARPA (06/27/87)
> Date: Wed, 17 Jun 87 14:04:04 MDT > From: kieffer%UNCAEDU.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu > Subject: modems for use in Europe > To: info-vax@sri-kl.arpa > > ... we are left wondering about > whether European modem frequency standards are different from the > those used in North America. ... > Rom Kieffer > University of Calgary > Calgary, Alberta > Canada Yes, they are different and incompatible. Each European country is small enough to need to be compatible with the outside world, so they have all agreed to abide by CCITT standards. In the US, the standard seems to be set by whoever is first to market. I have been bitten by this myself a few years ago, when I went to work in Europe for a month (or two or four) at a time, and occasionally needed to call home for mail or software patches. None of the modems I could find in Europe would talk to our U.S. dial-in ports. Fortunately, the telephone standards are the same, so you should be able to take a modem and plug it into the European telephone system (after replacing the modular connector at the end of the cable with whatever is used in the country you are visiting) and adding in a 220/110 stepdown transformer. To get the connector, buy an extension cord, cut off the modular connector from the U.S. cord and splice them together. Note that this is probably illegal in most European countries, where the PTTs have a monopoly on selling modems (thus enforcing the standards). As an alternative, you may be able to take out a subscription to a PTT sponsored X.25 network, and call home over a dial-in X.29 pad. This is likely to be slightly cheaper than dialing a transatlantic call. / Lars Poulsen Advanced Computer Communications, Santa Barbara, CA 93101, USA ------