     Commonly  called  line noise, the spurious  characters  that
appear  on the screen are usually from the central office of  the
phone company. It can make a big difference whether you call  out
or  someone  calls  'in'.  Also there  is  a  difference  between
calling  different areas (area codes or exchanges)  as  different
equipment will be involved. Calling the phone company will rarely
do any good, because the problem is not on your line.

     However, because the problem is not rare, (in fact common in
some places), operators of BBS and other modem users have come up
with a cheap simple solution which works most of the time.

     You  can  make (or have made) a 'noise filter'. The  modem  doing  the
rec'ving  must be the one with the filter. Parts are less than  $2.50.  You
plug  into the modem with a "T" adapter  (about $2.50 at Radio Shack)  will
let  you put the 'filter' on and still use the phone in that jack. (I  have
never  seen  a  'noise filter' for sale. The only device I  ever  saw  that
claimed to stop noise, cost more than $45 and did nothing at all).


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                                   Don Hinds - Zoom Tech
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