On 2 jan 2013, at 23:21, Warren Kumari <warren(_at_)kumari(_dot_)net> wrote:
South Africa used weird jacks, shared with Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Central
African Republic, Cook Islands, Liberia, Namibia and Serbia.
(some pictures here: http://www.networkmuseum.net/2011/06/phone-plugs.html).
The pins were made of some very soft metal (possibly high in lead, based upon
the speed at with they would tarnish and appearance of the oxidation) and the
wipers in the socket from a dissimilar metal. This would result in very poor
/ flaky connections, and kicking the jack to wiggle / reseat it was a common
practice.
Fun times...
Please note that many access providers for Internet access require the end user
to use a CPE that they provide. Both for wireless (mobile data, like 3G, 4G
etc) and wired access.
Like the old days.
What changed things, like many have explained in different words, where
agreements/laws/regulation that increased the power the end user had to choose
whatever device they wanted. That enabled innovation and competition. Decisions
by governments that overrun the interest of whoever run the access. Those
decisions by themselves I claim helped growth of the Internet more than many
other things (one could for example buy a modem from any vendor).
Patrik