-=> Michael Sharon and Robert L. Kunz wrote <=-
RLK> US Robotics offers a way to test the quality of your voice
RLK> phone lines and switches to see if it is capable of effectively
RLK> utilizing 56 kbs modems.
MS> I tried that number you provided, and to no surprise,  I was told
MS> that my line _IS_ capable of receiving the x2 factor "...but,  I
MS> might experience reduced performance." I then asked a few friends
MS> of mine  to try the number as well. As I had anticipated, they
MS> all received the exact same response.  Perhaps it is only a
MS> "canned response" provided by USR?
When I called the number, I didn't get the warning about possible
reduced performance except when I intentionally limited the connection
speed to below 28.8K BPS.  Actually, I found their line to be one of
the few to consistently give connections at the full 28.8K BPS speed -
I usually get only 26K or slower.  However, if you have a 33K modem,
you may get better connections by prefixing the dialing with an
"AT&N14" command to limit the maximum BPS to 28.8K.
For you kids who tuned in late, US Robotics has a toll-free number
you can call with your 28.8K BPS or faster modem to test your phone
line for 56K compatibility.  The number is 1-888-877-9248, and when
the BBS asks for a name, answer LINE TEST.
If the test shows that your phone line is 56K compatible, you'll see
something like the following (edited for space and to eliminate high
ASCII characters):
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Test returned code 1
-------------------------------------------------------------------
|                    This connection supports x2!                 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------
|   x2-STATS Version 1.05  12-11-97  12:12  Caller 3408949/26   |
-------------------------------------------------------------------
| Elapsed Time       00:00:23 | Modulation                  V.34+ |
| Blocks Received          16 | Speed                 28800/28800 |
| Blers                     0 | Symbol Rate             3429/3429 |
| Blocks sent              55 | Carrier Frequency       1959/1959 |
| Link Naks                 0 | Trellis Code        64S-4D/64S-4D |
| Blocks resent             0 | Nonlinear Encoding          ON/ON |
| Link Timeouts             0 | Precoding                 OFF/OFF |
| Chars sent             2048 | Shaping                     ON/ON |
| Octets sent            1171 | Preemphasis                   4/6 |
| Chars lost                0 | Rx Lev/TX Lev/SNR  26.0/10.7/40.4 |
| Chars Received            0 | Echo Loss    Near        Far      |
| Octets Received          28 | Roundtrip Delay                49 |
| Protocol          LAPM SREJ | Retrains Request/Grant        0/0 |
| Block Size              128 | Fallback                  Enabled |
| Window Size              15 | HST Line Reversals              0 |
| Compression          V42BIS | HST Equalization             Long |
| Dictionary Size        2048 | SV: 07/24/97        DSP: 07/24/97 |
| String Length            32 | Reason:                    Online |
-------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
| -28 |  * * * * * * * * * *               |   1 |
| -30 |  * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *          |   3 |
| -32 | * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *     |   5 |
| -34 | * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *   |   7 |
| -36 | * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  |   9 |
| -38 | * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  |  11 |
| -40 | * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * |  13 |
|Level-----------------------------------------------------Atten|
|       0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3       |
|       1 3 4 6 7 9 0 2 3 5 6 8 9 1 2 4 5 7 8 0 1 3 4 6 7       |
|       5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5 0 5       |
|       0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0       |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Minutes Used: 1
Thank you for calling the U.S. Robotics BBS.  We love you, darling.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
--- AdeptXBBS v1.07g (Registered)
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