On 11/27/2017 11:15 AM, Alan Frisbie via cctalk wrote: > Back in those days you could not connect anything directly to the telephone > lines -- you had to use the telco-supplied DAA (kaching!) or an acoustic > coupler. I don't know if this modem can be connected directly to a phone > line without a DAA. > > I think the asking price is totally unrealistic unless you are a rabid > collector of NCR gear.
This particular unit seems to have a Mickey-mouse type of coupler--receiver and transmitter connected by a cord. I never did figure out how one was supposed to use this with, say, a Trimline phone. I guess the answer was "you don't"). We've come a long way since the Carterfone decision. I do recall agonizing about the rental (you couldn't buy one from Ma Bell) charge for a DAA. The local PacBell office also wanted to charge for a "business" line if such an item was installed--much higher monthly charge than a residential line. I suppose that DAA's are still around for connection of non-licensed gear to landlines. Those should rapidly be disappearing, with the decline of the copper telco connection. --Chuck