Well, I disconnected my modem too late.  I asked my wife
to disconnect the cables from the modem during the hail
that hit us Saturday evening, and when I went to check
the RS232 cable was disconnected?!  I asked her why, and
she said that she disconnected that, and the lights on
the modem were out, and she thought that was good enough.

Actually, I think the transformer is gone, as it was running
red hot when I went to check it, and it smelt of that lovely
burning ceramic smell that I get high on.

The short story is, I don't have a backup modem.  I can't
buy the USR Courier because they are out of stock until
February.

I have stopped polling Dave Hatch for mail, so you won't get
masses of mail at slow speeds.  This gives you an opportunity
to deselect from large echos if you are calling STD.

I have decided to try and buy a modem on Sunday, at one of the
Yum Cha places if they are open, and buy one of these brands
that I've never heard of before.  Remember, it's only the
Spirits that are bad, I've been told so many times that IT
DOESN'T HAPPEN WITH ANY OTHER BOARD.  Therefor I am on to a
winner.  So long as it doesn't say "Spirit", I'm safe.  I
have seen modems in shops for prices around $300.

However, I don't think that the shops are actually going to
be open.  Therefor there will be no mail on Sunday.  I have
the following options available to me:

1. Continue at 2400, local callers shouldn't care, STD callers
will have to live with the expense for the interim, possibly
deselecting some large echos.  When the USR Courier is available,
get one.

2. Buy a Yum Cha modem at the earliest convenience, which will
be Monday at the latest.

3. Perhaps someone can lend me a higher-speed modem for the
interim, then I can get the USR.

If someone desperately wants me to not do one of these things,
they should reply to this message ASAP, as depending on how
the situation pans out, I could choose option 1 or 2 at my
whim.  Perhaps some of you would rather me have a Yum Cha modem
for the next 2 years rather than a Courier so that they can get
their mail at high speeds in the short term.  Perhaps others are
happy to live with the low speeds so long as I get a Courier (I
have the funds available, they just don't have the modems -
expected February).  Perhaps people would be happy to live with
a 9600 baud for a short while, but not 2400 baud, so if I can
get a 9600 baud modem I would be OK.

You will have to calculate your own phone bills and decide what
impact it has.  It will have an impact of ~$300 cf ~$600 for me.

Actually, I might be able to get a Spirit modem on loan from work
tomorrow, I'll have to see if the guy still leaves his modem at
work.  If it's only the power supply, that's all I need to borrow
too.

Also, I need to know if anyone will get upset if I disconnect
them from large volume echos at whim, e.g. the OS2 echo.

Let me know what you want.

BFN.  Paul.
@EOT:

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