>the computer equipment and fiber-based Internet access is nowhere near what the "acoustic modem" times.
>
>Meetings and university courses on-line DO work... But gosh I was still young - or nearly so - at the time of these noisy "acoustic modems" :-) :-)

Ouuh yeah, I remember trying that telephone stuff first at a geek friends home with 300/300, then buying the more expensive, but for me optimized 1200/75 Baud modem, as I was battle-typing (and sometimes battling with typing) back then already. xMas and Easter great times as the other computer end was unencumbered by those pesky normal users making the machine slow...