Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!mcvax!piet From: piet@cwi.nl (Piet Beertema) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.modems Subject: Re: Modems in Europe Message-ID: <843@sering.cwi.nl> Date: 20 Mar 89 19:49:34 GMT References: <8903141441.AA29030@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> Organization: CWI, Amsterdam Lines: 32 - the local PTTs feel kind of responsible for their line quality. So they may not like high baud rates, because they don't want, that the users bit errors may be considered as their fault Nonsense. Line noise is considered a fact of life and has nothing to do with the (non-)availability of high-speed modems in Europe. But precisely because this is Europe, there are about 20 different PTT standards, requirements etc. etc.; and that means that real innovative technology (like the Trailblazer modem) hardly gets any chance in Europe, since there is simply no large, open market for it; if such things become available at all, it's only with specific changes for almost every European country. - and of course the PTT sell digital channels by the kbyte Wish they did. If you mean by "digital channels" the great love of European PTT's: X.25, well, there accounting usually is based on segments (max. 64 bytes); or to put it another way: they sell by the byte. Needless to say that X.25 in Europe in general is very expensive; and not only expensive, but slow too (especially on international lines): standard level 3 window sizes of 2 and packet sizes of 128 don't give you more than about 20kbps effectively on a 64kbps line (unless of course you start messing around with multiple VC's to the same destination); a Trailblazer link is only slightly slower and *much* cheaper.... -- Opinions expressed above reflect those of my employer, except when they don't. Piet Beertema, CWI, Amsterdam (piet@cwi.nl)