Path: utzoo!mnetor!tmsoft!torsqnt!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!wuarchive!sdd.hp.com!ucsd!casbah.acns.nwu.edu!nucsrl!telecom-request From: berger@iboga (Mike Berger) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Should Projects be Connected to the Phone Line? Message-ID: Date: 16 Feb 91 03:19:10 GMT Sender: news@casbah.acns.nwu.edu Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana Lines: 34 Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 119, Message 11 of 11 atn@cory.berkeley.edu (Alan Nishioka) writes: > Now, many books and magazines regularly publish projects that connect > to the phone line. Even the usually respectable TELECOM Digest > recently published several such projects. I don't think any of them > have been certified anything by anyone. The books that I've seen generally include a caveat that the projects don't necessarily meet legal interface or registration requirements. > I see two issues involved: One of safety (to craftspersons, etc. ) and > the other of just following the rules. I can see if I were going to > sell these devices that I would be interested in both, but as a > hobbyist I am mostly interested in the first. > Is this safe? Are there other concerns here that I am missing? > Should *anyone* build *anything* that connects to the phone line? Can > it be reasonably priced? Does the phone company really care? Should > I do it anyway and just kinda feel guilty? :-) The phone company is interested in protecting their employees and equipment. Unregistered devices can potentially disrupt somebody elses' service or put dangerous voltages on the phone line. If you DO coincidentally cause problems, it's a good bet that the phone company will disconnect your service without notification and you may have a very hard time getting it restored. I suspect that the authors of the articles you mentioned would point out that you could connect the devices to your OWN local telephone switch without worrying about tariffs or registration. Mike Berger Department of Statistics, University of Illinois AT&TNET: 217-244-6067 Internet: berger@atropa.stat.uiuc.edu