I learned to "speak modem" in order to test a bank of modems. The calling station was roughly 100 feet from the modem bank. If a call got jammed up, I needed to

I learned to "speak modem" in order to test a bank of modems. The calling station was roughly 100 feet from the modem bank. If a call got jammed up, I needed to know which modem was stuck, being it used a next-modem-up rule. If I simply left the call station and jogged to the rack, the problem modem usually had hung up already. I realized an actual modem call keeps the answering modem trying longer, but I wasn't allowed to hook one up there, being stuck with a voice phone. So I practiced sounding enough like a modem to keep the answering modem trying longer. It worked! The server room admins thought I was nuts, even after I explained it. They joked that I dated Daleks.