From: mitch@nosc.mil (Ray Mitchell)
Subject: 14.4K Modem Recommendations
Organization: Naval Ocean Systems Center, San Diego, CA
Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1992 17:38:59 GMT


Greetings,

Thanks to all who e-mailed me their opinions and experiences with modems
in answer to my inquiry about what to buy.  Due to several requests, I am
posting a consolidation of most of the responses.  I finally decided on
the Digicom external 14.4K Eagle modem available from Prodigy for $199.
This is the same as the Digicom Scout+ modem and no respondents lodged
any serious complaints against it.  I couldn't touch the price anywhere
else.  If you don't belong to Prodigy a one month membership fee is
probably worth what you save on the modem, or better yet, you could find
someone who is a member and have them order it for you.  You can call
Digicom at 1-800-858-7228 for pre-recorded information on the modem's
specs.  You will need to make sure your computer has 16550A UART capability
to operate with any 14.4K external modem reliability I am told.  I
bought a separate $25 serial card with a 16550A on it since my system
had its UARTS as part of another multifunction chip.  I hope all this
helps.

Ray Mitchell
mitch@nosc.mil


************************* Begin Responses **************************

I have the Boca and it works fine at 14.4k.  The only drawback is that
it will not establish a v32bis connection with a USR HST/Dual v32bis 
modem -- you have to drop back to v32.  The UART is a 16450, which is
not the best, but it does work reliably.  I get around 1650cps with
v32bis/v42bis connections using Zmodem and sending compressed files.

The Intel SatisfaXion modems are nice, but be aware that the modem will
not wake up unless you have a driver loaded in your config.sys file.
Drivers are available for DOS and OS/2 I think, but not for any of the
real cutting-edge operating systems.  I don't know if that matters to
you.

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Infotel 14.4 Internal $199 from Midwest Micro, the printer place you
always see in Computer shopper.  Excellent!

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If you go for anything Rockwell based, make sure that the BIOS ROM
is version 1.270.  Anything less and you may have problems.  Also,
make sure that any internals use 16550A UART serial chips.  If you buy
an external be sure you have a serial port supported by a 16550A, not
a 16450 or 8250.  You will get overflow problems due to high speed
transfers without the 16550A.

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I didn't notice comp.dcom.modems in your distribution.  You may want to
monitor that newsgroup for a while for info.  Also, I've heard the Boca
have had some reliability problems (not connecting, etc., etc.).  The
USR should be reliable, but they are rather expensive.  The Intel internal
needs to have a device driver loaded to drive the modem.  It is reliable,
IF you are only using DOS/Windows.  It won't work with OS/2 or Unix.
You may want to see if you can find a ZyXEL U-1496B (internal model).
I have the external and I haven't had any problems with it.  The ZyXEL
seems to get good reviews in comp.dcom.modems, although they are a little
hard to get.

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Looks like you missed one of the best ones on your list.  I have a 
Digicom Scout+ modem, and I love it.  It's always worked great, 
I never have problems connecting at it's max speeds, and it has a 
good warantee by a reputable company.  It worked straight out of the box -
all I had to do was plug it in and watch it go.  It comes with a registered
version of Qmodem, and Winfax and Dosfax light.  I've never experienced
any character loss even when doing heavy multitasking within windows and
downloading w/ z-modem, since it has a 16550 UART built in.  It is a full
14.4K baud modem with v.32bis, v.42bis, and v.42, (among others..).
I haven't had a chance to try the fax yet, so I can't make any guarantees.

Best of all is the price.  You can get them from Wolgang Heineke on the network
for only $199.  Quite a steal for the features and quality that you get.
His address is wolfgang@netcom.com.  Drop him a note and ask for his specs
sheet.  He will provide good customer support over the net.

I went through this whole "what modem should I buy" process about a month
ago, and I finally narrowed it down to this one and a USR Sportster.  
Eventually, this one won out, mostly because of the excellent price.
Good luck with your decision, and tell wolfgang I referred you to him!

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I bought a Digicom Scout Plus several months ago, and am fairly happy
with it.  The Software Etc. computer software chain carries these at
a pre-marked (printed on the box) price of $199.  I bought the Digicom
solely for the cheapo price and the 30-day money-back guarantee from
Software Etc.

It's a 14.4kbps modem with FAX capability (which I've never used), internal
8-bit card.  16550-type UART, MNP1-5, v42, v42bis, v32, v32bis, 300bps-14.4
kbps, 57.6kbps max througput.  IRQ3-4 only, COM1-4.

Connection reliability is generally good.  Occasionally it seems to flake
out, but line noise in my area can be very bad.  This is regarded as a 
general problem of the Rockwell chipset, which I suspect the Digicom has.
I've connected to USRs, Supras, Practical Peripherals, Compucoms, Digitechs,
and Hayes all regularly without problems (and others, I'm sure--these are 
the only modem brands that I'm aware I'm hooking up to).  I've rarely
had problems after connection, and have been dropped a grand total of
once or twice in 3-4 months (again, probably just line noise).

This modem might be worth a look if you have a Software Etc. in your area,
just because it's basically risk-free and very cheap.  For the price, I 
expected to be disgruntled with it regarding throughput and reliability
because I've a very heavy modem user.  But I was quite happy enough with 
it to keep it without regrets.
	
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Supra has a V.32 14.4 Send/Receive Fax Modem out in both
external and internal models.  The external you can mail
order for $300 and the internal you can get for a little
over $200 (Look around in mail order catalogs).  The Supra
modems have gotten very good reviews from everyone and
is a definite bargain.  ..

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Here is my experience with "high" speed modems.  I had a 9600 v.23/v.42bis from
Cardinal and it didn't work very reliably due to the lack of UART.  My CPU
was 386-25.  Since I switched to a 14400 v.32/v.42bis from Cardinal I
have never had any more problems.  It seems that you really need UART especially
if your computer is slow.

I would recommend a modem from Practical Peripherals.  I had to use one for about
a month and it worked without any problems at all.  I wouldn't recommend
buying from Cardinal (altough this is what I'm using now).
Their preices are slightly better than Practical Peripherals but their
customer/technical support is REALLY BAD (It took them almost 4 months to repare
my previous malfunctioning modem.  Average time you have to hold in case
you call them is about 10 minutes, ...).

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  Ray, try Midwest Micro for a good (possibly great) price on a 14.4k modem
with fax support.  In the latest Computer Shopper magazine (available
everywhere for $2.95) they advertise an Infotel 14.4k faxmodem for $199 
internal, and $249 external.  This is with a 10-year warranty, no less.

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ok, here goes....  to start with, do not buy an internal modem.  pure
and simple.  there are lots of problems with internal modems, but here
are a few:

   1) NO DIAGNOSTICS --- you can't see the LEDs on an internal
      modem....this can really help when you run into trouble.

   2) resetting modem (after total lock-up) means powering down the
      computer.  I had this happen a lot way back, when I had an
      internal modem...never had it happen since, though.

   3) quality.  my impression is that the internal modems are more or
      less treated as sub-standard modems...mostly because the people
      who tend to buy them generally don't know the difference.

   4) UART problems.  the internal modem might have a brain-damaged
      UART, and unless you're lucky, it won't be socketed...so you
      won't be able to (easily) convert it to a 16550.  bad news for
      high-speed modems.

   5) what if you decide at some point to change from, say, a pc to
      a Sun (or whatever)?  don't expect your modem to make that
      switch....

   6) what happens when you want to take the modem on a trip with,
      say, a laptop?  nope, can't do that.

and the list could go on and on and on and .....  on top of that, the
only thing you avoid with an internal modem is a serial card and cable.
serial cards are going for less than $20 (closer to $10) these days,
and the cable is cheap, too.  if you get a serial card with a socketed
8250 or 16450 (or a card with an expansion slot for a second serial
port), you can easily upgrade your serial port to a 16550 to improve
performance.  the NS16550AFN will run you about $12 (no more than $15).

in short, do not buy an internal modem.

well, here again is where comp.dcom.modems is your next move.  I can
tell you this, though --- the US Robotics Courier modems are very nice
modems (I'll be using one in a few minutes when I ship this off via
UUCP).  if you look at the Courier, be *SURE* that you get the newer
model, with the smaller footprint.  the older (large footprint) Courier
modems (like mine) aren't going to be able to get a software upgrade for
V.fast when it comes out.  :-(

if you go with USR, you might consider the Dual Standard if you have
need to connect to HST modems, too.  last time I looked at the price
list, it wasn't that much of a price difference between that and the
straight V.32bis model (it's been a while, though, and my memory may
be off a bit).

> Price is an object but it doesn't outweigh reliability.

smart move.  if you pay $200 instead of $400, but then end up paying
it again a year later, you've just spent as much on a lemon as I did
for a modem that will last a long, long time....  on the other hand,
if you can get a modem for $200 that will last, so much the better.

> The best price I found was on a Boca 14.4K FAX modem but one
> source told me they do not run reliably at 14.4K because they lack a
> UART, and one can't be added.

they have a UART (they have to in order to talk to the pc's bus).  what
this person probably meant is that it lacks a 16550 UART, which is a
severe failing for high-speed modems.

btw, I'm not sure where it is right now (I'm in the process of moving),
but if you're interested, I can send you some good info on the 16550
UART once I find my data sheets from National Semiconductor.  the info
goes into how it (and your comm software) uses the buffers to improve
system performance.  very good reading.

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A friend of mine has the Zyxel 1496B - an internal modem with fax-option
and an 16550-UART on board. It runs V32bis and slower and have the ability
to run the Zyxel-intern 16800-Modus. The price is ca. DM 700,- which will
be ca. $ 400.

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Hello.. I own a Intel 400/e.  The modem is capable of 57.6k bps.  It also
does fax.  In the real world you are limited to 14.4k bps when
sendin binary (zip or arc files) -- because they are ALREADY compressed.
When sending and receiving text, you will get 57.6k throughput only
if you are COM port can handle the speed.  

I have been very satifised with the 400/e.  By enlarge it is compatible
with most major modems.  Sometimes I have run into problems with
US Robotics HST modems.  But more often than not I have had no
problem.. ( I am on over 40 local bbs systems).

Plus, Intel technical support can be reached via Internet! 

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I have seen some 14.4 modems in "PC Sources" for around $199 !!!
with s/r fax too.
All I have right now is 2400 baud and would like to upgrade to
14.4 as well. PLease compile and post your e-mail replies to
our news group, so others can look at it too.

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 I use a 14.4K internel ZyXEL Faxmodem in my 25MHz 386sx without any
 problems - I've been running it for about 7 months.  The one drawback
 it has is that it will only take 512Kb EPROMs, as a result some of the
 features available on the (more expensive) external models are not
 readily available - although with a bit of handy-work it is possible to
 wire in 1MB EPROMs and have it run properly. Apart from that I find it
 a great modem, very reliable (even on bad lines), and very fast (but that's
 to be expected when I came from a 2400 baud modem <grin>)

 btw the extra features in the 1MB chips are voice mail (I think) and a
 propriety 16.8K protocol, as well as 'online' help available through some
 extended AT commands!

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