Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!tektronix!percival!jamesd
From: jamesd@percival.UUCP (James Deibele)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.modems
Subject: Re: Haye's/telebit's/USR's special offer to BBS sysops
Message-ID: <1393@percival.UUCP>
Date: 10 Oct 88 06:24:04 GMT
References: <71@csnz.nz> <389@westmark.UUCP> <5521@hoptoad.uucp> <1476@netmbx.UUCP>
Reply-To: jamesd@percival.UUCP (James Deibele)
Followup-To: comp.dcom.modems
Organization: Percy's UNIX, Portland, OR.
Lines: 24

In article <1476@netmbx.UUCP> blume@netmbx.UUCP (Heiko Blume) writes:
>since i live in europe, i wonder why these offers are valid only
>inside the us and canada...didnt help me to be a sysop :-(
>anyone know why ??
>-- 

Most of the modem manufacturers who do the sysop specials are in the US.  They
don't sell their modems overseas directly, but through local distributors.
Part of the reason for that is most overseas countries have a PTT (Postal,
Telegraph and Telephone) agency, each of which has its own set of standards.  A
modem that passes the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) tests in the US
has to pass testing in each separate country to be sold there.  I don't think
that it's very expensive to make a modem meet all relevant standards, it's just
a pain in the butt that the US companies would rather not deal with.  There's a
large market for modems here, since we don't pay additional charges on local
calls, which makes dialing up the local BBS or UNIX site effectively free after
purchasing the modem.  Perhaps with the CCITT becoming more of a force, we'll
see an international standard ... and then again, maybe we won't ...

-- 
James S. Deibele   jamesd@qiclab or jamesd@percival
TECHbooks: The Computer Book Specialists   (800) TECH-BKS
3646 SE Division  Portland, OR  97202      (503) 238-1005
TECHbooks One BBS (#1:105/4.0); 3/12/24    (503) 760-1473