Before the widespread availability of Internet access, computers were only connected by smaller local area networks within a company or organization. They were also often equipped with modems so they could be used remotely from character-mode terminals via dial-up telephone lines. UUCP used the computers' modems to dial out to other computers, establishing temporary, point-to-point links between them. Each system in a UUCP network has a list of neighbor systems, with phone numbers, login names and passwords, etc. When "work" (file transfer or command execution requests) is queued for a neighbor system, the program typically calls that system to process the work. The program can also poll its neighbors periodically to check for work queued on their side; this permits neighbors without dial-out capability to participate.