Subj : FTS-1 and FTS-4
To   : Ward Dossche
From : andrew clarke
Date : Sat Nov 10 2018 01:28 am

09 Nov 18 09:27, you wrote to Andrew Leary:

 AL>> I can't remember the last time I saw a dialup FTS-1 session,
 AL>> incoming or outgoing.

 WD> I got rid of my dial-up modem in 2006.

 WD> Lately I've been considering getting one again, the problem being I
 WD> can't find one anymore, not even in shops with recycled stuff.

In Australia it's increasingly difficult to connect a dialup modem to a 
landline and have it work reliably. POTS landlines are slowly being obsoleted 
by VoIP services connected to fibre (FttP/FttN/FttC), adding an 
analogue-digital-analogue conversion, hampering the modem's protocol 
negotiation etc. This can also cause fax machines to fail.

And of course many households and businesses have ditched their landlines 
altogether in favour of mobile devices. Consequently the remaining POTS 
landlines become more expensive and less profitable for Telstra to maintain.

--- GoldED+/BSD 1.1.5-b20180707
 * Origin: Blizzard of Ozz, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (3:633/267)

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