TZUTC: -0500   
   MSGID: 165.fidonet-fidogaze@1:19/33 21e3b373   
   REPLY: 5179.gazette@1:2320/105 21e2ca3f   
   PID: Synchronet 3.17c-Win32  Sep 10 2019 MSC 1922   
   TID: SBBSecho 3.09-Win32 r3.140 Sep 10 2019 MSC 1922   
   CHRS: ASCII 1   
   Mike,   
      
   MP>>Sorry to butt in - but I hope more BBSes start to offer dial-up. And more   
   MP>users   
   MP>>switch off their routers and dust off their modems.   
      
   MP>I have a dial up system - 1-502-875-8938   
      
     At present, I have a US Robotics external v.92 56K Fax Modem. However,   
   I'm not about to pay $75 a month for a vanilla phone line, just to get   
   dial-up BBS callers...especially after the rude way my late Mom and   
   myself were treated by AT&T "customer service personnel" (I use the term   
   loosely). On a call, when I demanded to speak to a supervisor, they hung   
   up on me. When I dialed back, and was told "this call may be monitored   
   or recorded", I said "It damn sure better be, for ahat I'm going to   
   say".   
      
     Whenever there's a power outage or lightning strike, the DSL modems   
   are toast. So, my Mom had no phone service (all the analog lines are   
   going digital/VoIP), no internet (UVerse), and no 911 service (this was   
   3 years before she died on August 9, at 92 years of age). I was told   
   that "we can't get a Technician out there for a week"...never mind she   
   was elderly and disabled. Their attitude was that "they didn't give a   
   rats @$$ about customers like her".   
      
     When they sent a service man out the next day, because of my b!+ch!ng,   
   he was livid...saying "there was absolutely NO EXCUSE for her to be   
   treated like that!!". He gave us his card and private contact   
   number...and told us "if this happens again, call me first!! Either I   
   myself, or one of my team members will be there within 24 hours".   
      
     After I had to put her into a nursing home and set up a Miller Trust   
   nearly 2 years ago, I called and CANCELLED every bit of the AT&T   
   service...cellphone, UVerse, landline...EVERYTHING. I told them that "I   
   get MagicJack for $45 a year, and you want to charge me $75 a month plus   
   long distance charges??!! You are severely disillusioned!!"...and added   
   "I wouldn't use you if you gave me the service free for life!!".   
      
     I apologized to my Mom for cussing in front of her, but when I asked   
   "can you blame me for my outburst?", she said "No"...she was there and   
   heard everything that happened.   
      
     As for cellphone service, I'm with Straight Talk, and it's the best   
   cellphone package I've ever had...$50 a month with tax, and I get 25   
   Gigabytes of data, before it gets throttled down. I use nowhere near   
   that amount each month. And, with the rewards plan, some months, I can   
   claim the points, so I get a free month of cellphone service.   
      
     But back to the dial-up, those modems only really work with analog   
   lines, and not with VoIP lines. Yet, I wonder what the fax machines are   
   working with...since practically all the old analog lines are now   
   digital/VoIP. If there was a way to make that work, I'd put dial-up   
   access back on the BBS...but I saw a comment from Rob Swindell (aka   
   digital man), author of Synchronet, noting that "28.8 and 33.6 aren't as   
   fast as you remember them".   
      
   Daryl   
      
    * OLX 1.53 * To air is human. Be sure you're standing down wind.   
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    * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - tbolt.synchro.net (1:19/33)   
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