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- =====[ YOUR SYSTEM HAS NOISE ]==============================================
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- Written by Bill Noel
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- Your system has noise!! Ever heard that from one of your users? Of
- course you have. And did you have a problem? Most likely not. If you
- had a noisy line then all of your calls would have been noisy. Then
- where is the problem? It is in what is known as the trunking network.
- The Trunking Network is a series of lines and trunks that connect
- switching offices. All offices do not have direct trunks, so they are
- routed through a connection office. Sometimes these trunks operate on
- copper cable, sometimes onT-Carrier, and sometimes on the Fiber Optic
- cables that are currently being installed. Any one of these methods can
- cause data problems. In fact, any carrier system can cause one way data
- errors. That is, the BBS can be seeing errors and the user does not see
- them, or vice versa. The latter problem makes your user know for sure
- that your BBS is in trouble.
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- Trunking Network problems are the most difficult problems to solve.
- Southern Bell does not train their Repair Clerks to handle trunking
- complaints. What you should do when you experience data problems to a
- certain exchange is listen to a quiet line into that office. Try to
- describe the problem in terms of steady noise, "popping," "frying,"
- "other people on the line", etc. Tell the repair clerk that you always
- have this type of problem when calling the 457 exchange when calling
- from the 999 exchange. Tell her this is a trunking problem and to
- please really the report to Trunking Maintenance. Never tell her that
- you have a data problem. Southern Bell does not guarantee data
- transmission on non-conditioned lines. (However, a non-conditioned line
- that meets all of their normal residential service requirements will
- support data up to 2400 baud with very little problems). Remember that
- when you buy a cheap modem, you get a cheap modem. Why was it cheap?
- Because they left things out like noise filters! Keep that in mind when
- you buy.
-
- But what if you are really having trouble on you line? Be careful
- before calling Ma Bell with a complaint. If you are not paying them the
- $1.00 service charge for House Wire Maintenance, they will hit you with
- about $35.00 per hour to fix the problem, or even if they don't fix it
- but prove it was you fault. The mini-jacks located in your house can
- cause you a lot of noise problems. They get all kind of things in them
- like smoke, grease, animal hair, and dust. These things cause the
- contacts to corrode. Corrosion causes noise. If you have an OHM meter
- and the technical skill to use it, lift the house wire from the
- terminals and check for high resistance shorts in you house with all of
- your modems and phones removed from the jacks.
-
- Noise problems can also come from the carbon blocks located in the small
- grey box located where the phone lines enter your house. Normally this
- condition will appear after an electrical storm or high winds when there
- may have been currents flowing on the phone lines. These devices belong
- to the phone company and you should not mess with them.
- I hope this will shed some light on the subject of noise for you.
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