John D. Alleyn-Day" <[log in to unmask]> Wrote:

>...  Hve you made any calls to Europe recently?  The long-distance
>quality is almost always excellent (it's mostly digital), and it sounds
>like next door.  It's the "last mile" where the problems lie; the >copper wires that have been in the ground for thirty years.

I fail to see the correlation here, a digital circuit can use copper
just as an analog line does for the last leg.  And there are
intercontinental cables that have been underwater just about as many
years as land circuits have been underground.  Laying the blame on
copper seems a fallacy to me, whereas the quality of the sound lies in
the modulation, not the medium.
--
Tracy Johnson
Minister of Propaganda, Justin Thyme Productions
[log in to unmask]
"Semper Pollus"
 ADC-2239-5531