Some hotel phone systems will fry your modem.(Small Business Strategies)

Your hotel room - 7 a.m.. The presentation looks great. You just need to dial into the office and download the financial data.

No problem at all. Turn on the notebook computer ... insert your PC Card modem ... plug the phone cord into the wall jack... ZAPPPPP!

Uh-oh.

As I recently (and regretfully) learned, PC Card modems can be severely harmed if they are plugged into the phone jack of a digital phone system. The current in the jack can easily fry a PC Card modem, and in rare cases may even damage the computer.

Unfortunately, it is not always easy to tell a digital jack from a standard analog one. Digital phone systems typically use the same …