In a message of 29 May 95 Bill Grimsley wrote to me:

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 BG> Dunno who told you that load of rubbish, but it is now, and always has
 BG> been explicitly illegal to connect non Austel-approved devices to the
 BG> PSTN.  But hey, don't just take my word for it - give Austel a call
 BG> yourself.
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  Suprisingly enough it was someone from austel, so it may depend on who
you talk to in there. When I rang last year concerning warranty stuff,
thats what they told me. For the simple reason that because of the
privatisation (this is my guess) that they can't enforce people to use
anything that is austel approved, but as the person on the phone said, if
someone doesn't use Austel approved units then the warranty or repair to
the line will not be covered this means that if your phone is either struck
by lightning or your phone line developes problems you will not get
insurance cover.... And the phone company is obliged to charge you for the
repairs to the line, thats what they told me.... But also this was 12
months ago as well.



Andrew Scott

...  I tried an internal modem, but it hurt when I walked.
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