Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!bionet!hayes.fai.alaska.edu!accuvax.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request
From: wmf@chinet.chi.il.us (Bill Fischer)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Complaint to Telco Brings Hostile Service Person!
Message-ID: <12197@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 14 Sep 90 19:26:00 GMT
Sender: news@accuvax.nwu.edu
Organization: TELECOM Digest
Lines: 42
Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 649, Message 8 of 10


We have a plain vanilla phone line for use with a modem. A couple days
ago, I began to get a lot of static on the line, so much so that the
modem was rendered useless. So, I call 611, report the complaint and
am told a service man is on his way.

When this joker arrived, he was incredibly hostile! He said he had
been monitoring the line and every time he called, "some fax machine
or something" answered the line. So I tell him that it's a modem for
dial in and out of our little Xenix box. Now he's really hostile! "You
are using a standard dial tone line, what you get is what you get ... If
you want a data line, pay for it. You people abuse the system, but
it's gonna change..."

Now, I told this guy that the quality of the line was unacceptable
even as a voice line and he better get to work on that, which he
grudgingly did.  As I write this, there is still some garbage on the
line, but it *is* a lot better.

My question to the net at large is this:

What is this data line he refered to, how much does it cost and is it
really necessary to get one for modem use? Is there any way Bell can
determine if a line is used exclusively for data?

The whole deal kinda smells bad to me.


Bill Fischer                        | INTERNET  : wmf@chinet.chi.il.us 
US Agent for Omega Electronics      | COMPUSERVE: 76257,1226           
"Olympic Timekeepers Since 1936"    | MCIMAIL   : 3110885              
          < The opinions expressed here are my own >


[Moderator's Note: A data line is a telephone line upon which the
telco guarentees a certain transmission quality making it suitable for
data transmission. They are a little more expensive, and seldom are
they needed. (I just use regular voice-grade lines here and get by
fine.) But it sounds to me like the fellow they sent out could use a
few lessons in diplomacy. If you are paying for the service, then you
are 'abusing' nothing.  PAT]