Path: utzoo!telecom-request Date: Thu, 9 May 1991 18:28:40 GMT From: Jim W Lai Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Japan and Modems Message-ID: Organization: University of Waterloo Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu 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 351, Message 6 of 10 Lines: 22 I posted about this recently and received a few pieces of email in response. I based my judgment of the lack of availability of US modems on the ads of mail order companies in some Japanese computer magazines and the persual of a few stores on a recent visit. The two brands of modem that seemed to be most popular on the store shelves for 2400 baud were Omrom and Aiwa. Apparently US modems can be bought in Japan and vice versa. The reason I was at a loss to explain the situation is because I noted the ridiculously high cost of 1200 baud modems in Japan. I fail to find the protectionism argument satisfactory since even a 100% tariff would not pose a barrier to the sale of US 1200 baud modems. Does anyone know if Japan has strict RFI emissions standards or if there are any joint ventures with US modem manufacturers? As an aside, I was told there that the phone lines in Japan were clean enough to handle 9600 baud. However, I found their international long distance system (controlled through another company?) to be somewhat less reliable. Due to noise, 2400 baud would probably be the best that could be relied on.