Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!hayes!tnixon
From: tnixon@hayes.uucp
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.modems
Subject: Re: Which is better to have?
Message-ID: <3921.2812b277@hayes.uucp>
Date: 22 Apr 91 09:52:54 GMT
References: <7223.280D280F@zswamp.uucp> <1991Apr18.162946.29336@bilver.uucp>
Organization: Hayes Microcomputer Products, Norcross, GA
Lines: 29

In article <1991Apr18.162946.29336@bilver.uucp>, bill@bilver.uucp
(Bill Vermillion) writes: 

> And if you get a lightning strike while you are connected to the phone
> lines with an external modem, the only problem you are likely to have is a
> dead modem - which brings this line
> ...
> If you have a lightning strike nearby when you have an internal modem
> connected, you have just invited mother nature to be a guest in your
> machine.
> ...
> Think of an external modem as a $200 fuse for a $5000 computer  :-)

I specifically didn't include this widely-held view in my list of 
advantages/disadvantages.  Why?  Because lighting is so 
unpredictable and dangerous.  I've seen several cases of lighting 
going THROUGH an external modem, arcing all around inside, and into 
the computer through the EIA-232 cable, so I can't list "lighting 
protection" as an advantage of external modems.  It may help a
little, but it's no guarantee.  You need external protection,
whether your modem is internal or external. 

	-- Toby

-- 
Toby Nixon, Principal Engineer    | Voice   +1-404-840-9200  Telex 151243420
Hayes Microcomputer Products Inc. | Fax     +1-404-447-0178  CIS   70271,404
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