Terry Smythe asked:

> I'll be in London, England 13 through to 27 October.  I'm taking
> my little Compaq 4/25 notebook with me.  It's equipped with a
> PCMCIA modem working through a standard telephone jack.  I hope to
> be able to maintain an email link while over there, through a daily
> connect into a local ISP who has already set up a temporary account
> for me.
> [snip]
> For power, what do I need to do here to ensure that when I get
> there, I can plug my 110 v power supply into the mains?
> For telephone, will my standard telephone extension cable work
> over there?

The British Telecom jack, introduced in 1982, was modeled on the US
jack, but was made deliberately different to prevent unapproved American
phones (which used a different make/break ratio when pulse dialing) from
being used.  Since then, with everything going Touch-Tone, BT have
relaxed about naughty phones, but we still have the problem.  Computer
shops sell conversion cords because all modems here use the US socket
anyway, but US Robotics modems use a different set of connections, so
there have to be two kinds !

The UK mains socket is a monstrous thing compared to the North American
socket, and there are electronics shops that sell a low-wattage 230:110
volt transformer which simply plugs into it and has one or two
US/Canadian sockets on the front.

However, the easier answer is probably to talk to the Compaq sellers
here, who will simply have the UK fittings for your model.  I'll round
up some names and phone numbers and email them.

Dan Wilson