a data terminal suitable for home use and having the ability to communicate in both bit synchronous and character asynchronous formats is provided . when a user places a call to a database , the terminal automatically detects whether the database is operating in the bit synchronous or character asynchronous format by examining the received signal for a specific character stream . in response to the presence or absence of this character stream , the terminal automatically configures its receiver and transmitter to communicate in the desired format . this frees the user from the task of modifying a synchronous / asynchronous setup parameter each time a different database is accessed .