Apple Macintosh - Page 254

Macintosh Communications 257
Figure 8.1. Acoustic mod em
The disadvantages to an acoustic modem are that it is
susceptible to noise interference both from within the room in
which it is used
and from the telephone handset itself. Also, the
modem cannot be instructed to pick up the phone on its own.
An operator must be present to transfer the handset to the
modem. The modem will require use of a dedicated tele phon e
when it is in use. This may cause inconvenience for the opera-
tor. If the operator's telephone handset is incompatible with
the modem, the connection may be impossible. For these rea-
sons,
th e acou stic modem is generally considered obsolete.
Many of the difficulties encountered with acoustic
modems can be avoided by using a direct connect mod em. This
so rt of modem was designed to be a s tand-alone unit. The
modem which we will use in thi s chapter for our examples is a
direct connect mod em made by Hay es Micr oco mputer Pro-
ducts, Inc. This modem is compatible with many computer