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USR HST was very robust against phone pick-ups, it would quietly blink and resume working as soon as the annoyed would-be caller replaced the handset!

I spent $400 in hard-earned teenage income on a USR refurb and never felt buyer's remorse.

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I totally forgot about this issue with dial-up modems. The good ones would temporarily pause a connection when someone picked up the phone and the cheapos would instantly lose the connection. My family was too poor to afford to phone lines and it made me value time online (also made me have to use the Internet at odd hours when people were unlikely to call the house).

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