the location of a repeater on a link is vital. a repeater must be placed so that a signal reaches it before any noise changes the meaning of any of its bits. a little noise can alter the precision of a bit's voltage without destroying its identity. if the corrupted bit travels much farther, however, accumulated noise can change its meaning completely. At that point, the original voltage is not recoverable, and the error needs to be corrected. A repeater placed on the line before the legibility of the signal becomes lost can still read the signal well enough to determine the intended voltages and replicate them in their original from