DD> Why do you think a fax machine would default to 0 any more that any
 DD> other digit?

   All fax machines I've worked with stored numbers as packed BCD.
Admittedly this was 20 odd years ago, when non-volatile memory still was
extremely expensive, but then again many fax machines are now rather old
since it's a dying technology.

 DD> In this country null != 0

   In this country null = 00 when stored as packed BCD. :)

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