From: stuart@procase.uucp (Stuart Balfour)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.modems
Subject: Cheap V.32/V.32bis Modems
Date: 14 Apr 92 22:51:32 GMT
Organization: proCASE Corporation, Santa Clara, CA

This is the third serial posting of the "cheap V.32 modems" list.  Was going
to post it monthly, but it became a time consuming project and I let it lapse.
I'll post it as I have time to keep up on current prices, otherwise it'd just
be misleading to post out of date info.  Current as of April 12.

In answer to the question "where can I get a cheap V.32/V.42/V.42bis/MNP4/MNP5/
FAX/etc... modem so often posed here:

The following 9600bps modems are all at least V.32/V.42bis and Hayes AT compat-
ible, that is, they are theoretically capable of 38.4K bps DTE rate.

Model & Manufacturer  Price  Distributor   Phone         Advertisement   I/E  Other
--------------------  -----  -----------   -----         -------------   ---  -----
SupraFax Modem V.32   $235   Ron Kushner   [rkushner@sycom.mi.org]USENET Ext
SupraFax Modem V.32   $239   Computability 800-558-0003  PS  4/92 p.144  Ext  Fax
AMT 9632              $265   Treasure Chest800-723-8282  PS  4/92 p.12   Int
PM9600SA              $266   Comp.Disc.Ware800-829-4239  PM  4/28 p.86   Int
Infotel V.32          $268   Midwest Micro 800-423-8215  PS  4/92 p.206  Int
Infotel V.32 Turbo    $269   Midwest Micro 800-423-8215  PS  4/92 p.206  Int  12K
Lightcom 96           $269   Lightning Comm800-433-4420  CS  4/92 p.178  Int 
DallasFax 96/96       $278   DallasFax     800-876-8581  PS  4/92 p.208  Int  Fax 
PM9600SA              $279   Comp.Disc.Ware800-829-4239  PM  4/28 p.86   Ext
Twincom 96/42         $279   H&J Elec.Intl.800-275-2447  CS  4/92 p.337  Int 
Infotel V.32          $288   Midwest Micro 800-423-8215  PS  4/92 p.206  Ext
Zoom V.32             $289   Ralin Whlesale800-752-9512  CS  4/92 p.311   ?   Fax

Legend:
-------
BT Byte
CS Computer Shopper
PW PC World
PS PC Sources
PC PC Computing
PM PC Magazine

The Infotel V.32 Turbo supports the V.32bis fall-back rate of 12000bps; that is,
when connecting to a V.32bis modem, it will connect at 12000bps.  The Lightcom
is a half-size card if that matters to any of you.  The Zoom modems were not
shipping as of the date of this posting; due to ship late in April.  If you're
interested in the Supra modem, check out the Kushner deal: price includes
shipping anywhere in the continental U.S; Computability's price does not include
shipping and handling, 5% (No, I don't work for him.)

There is an excellent article on high speed modems in December's PC WORLD with a
listing of 103 modems.  You want to ask about toll-free technical support and
manufacturer's warranty.  Increasing price pressure has resulted in many being
bundled with communications software at no additional charge, or at a substantial
discount.  You should check if the modem you buy does, and dicker with the dealer
for it if it doesn't. Otherwise, you'll need to factor the cost of software like
ProComm Plus (~$62) into the purchase price.

For those of you who've run across the 9600bps CompuCom Speedmodem for $149-169
I'll say that it's V.22bis and MNP5 compatible at 2400bps, but uses a propri-
etary protocol at 9600.  That is, at 9600 baud, it'll communicate only with
others of its own kind.  It's getting popular on BBS systems because of its
low cost.  It's not a V.32 modem, so if compatibility matters to you, this
modem is not for you.

I've collected all ~$290 or less 9600bps modems I've found anywhere on the
list.  Excuse me for omitting many fine products costing just over $290; if I
made the cutoff $300, there'd be at least a couple dozen entries, and that sort
of defeats the purpose of keeping a concise list of the dirt cheapest.  As it
is, the under $290 list is growing by one or two a week.


  *****************************************************************************

In answer to the question "where can I get a cheap V.32bis/V.42/V.42bis/MNP4/
MNP5/FAX/etc... modem:

The following 14.4K bps modems are all at least V.32bis/V.42bis and Hayes AT
compatible; that is, they are theoretically capable of 57.6K bps DTE rate
(don't we wish...).

Model & Manufacturer  Price  Distributor   Phone        Advertisement    Int Other
--------------------  -----  -----------   -----        -------------    --- -----
SupraFax V.32bis      $305   Ron Kushner   [rkushner@sycom.mi.org]USENET Ext  Fax
SupraFax V.32bis      $309   Computability 800-558-0003 PS  4/92 p.144   Ext  Fax
Zoom V.32bis          $319   Ralin Whlse.  800-752-9512 CS  4/92 p.311    ?   Fax
Spirit II             $320   QuickComm     800-551-6166                  Int  Fax
DallasFax 9696 14.4   $328   DallasFax     800-876-8581 PS  4/92 p.208   Int  Fax
Compucom Speedster    $329   Compucom      800-748-6840 BT  4/92 p.345   Int  Fax
Spirit II             $342   QuickComm     800-551-6166                  Ext  Fax
PM14400FXSA           $359   Comp.Disc.Ware800-829-4239 PM  4/28 p.86    Int  Fax
DallasFax 9696 14.4   $369   DallasFax     800-876-8581 PS  4/92 p.208   Ext  Fax
PM14400FXSA           $396   Comp.Disc.Ware800-829-4239 PM  4/92 p.86    Ext  Fax
Twincom 1440F         $399   Twincom       800-275-2447 CS  4/92 p.337   Ext  Fax
9696 PF               $399   MET, Inc.     800-766-7466 PS  4/92 p.556   Ext  Fax

I've collected all ~$400 or less 14.4K bps modems I've found anywhere on the
list.  I'll repost it monthly with updates as this seems to be the area of
greatest price variability now, with V.32 modems becoming commodity items.

All modems come with manufacturer's warranties and free technical support.  Prices
are without software, but many also come bundled with discounted software.  The
Compucom comes w/o a Fax option for $50 cheaper, but I listed the fax price to
make it comparable to the other modems on the list which all have fax capability.
The Zoom V.32bis was not shipping as of this posting, scheduled to ship end of
April, but they couldn't give me a model designation or internal/external
description, so my guess is that this product is vaporware for a goodly while.
The Supra is badly backed up behind advance orders at both places, which is why
I second sourced it.  If you're interested in the Supra modem, check out the
Kushner deal: price include shipping anywhere in the continental U.S.;
Computability's price does not include shipping and handling, 5% (No, I don't
work for him.) 

While 14.4K is on paper 50% faster than a 9600 bps modem, in practice this is
not achieved.  Here are some speeds for V.32 and V.32bis file transfers for some
typical file types in bps (V.42 LAP-M and V.42bis enabled):


           file        V.32      V.32bis
           ----        ----      -------  
           dbase        24K        24K
           TIFF         24K        24K
           text         16K        22K
           binary       13K        18K
           ZIP           8K        10K


An "average" speed advantage for V.32bis given the spread above is meaningless.
But it is clear that a 50% improvement is approached only under specific condi-
tions.  The ZIP file case is particularly instructive, because the ZIP compres-
sion is LZW based, as is V.42bis, and therefore no hardware compression is 
being effected.  The transfer rates are thus a reflection of modulation proto-
col speed.  (TIFF files are an uncompressed graphics format - you'll get re-
sults more like those for ZIP files with GIF, JPG and other highly encoded
graphics formats, for those of you who download from BBS's).  V.32bis is at
least 50% more expensive than V.32, and only 0-25% faster, except in a few
cases.

V.32bis is under tremendous price pressure right now, having fallen from the
$700-1000 price range to the $400-500 price range in the last 6-9 months, and
prices will fall further to fill the gap left by cheap (<$250) V.32 modems. 

                                                            Stuart Balfour
                                                            Software Engineering
                                                            ProCASE Corp.
                                                            Santa Clara, CA
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.modems