Darren Hamilton wrote in a message to Bob Juge:
 DH> What ultimately ends up happening is that both "standards" become
 DH> orphans and the people who "jumped the gun" by buying either type
 DH> of modem are out of luck. Remember HST modems? They would only
 DH> connect at 16,800 with other HSTs. Everyone else would connect with
 DH> them at 2,400. I know that Flash ROMs might help some people who
 DH> bought K56 and x2 modems but this is a kludge solution.
Hmmm.... I remember HST at 16K8.  I was getting reliable connections at up to 
16K8 with HST modems and up to 14K4 connections to v.32bis modems.  By the 
time HST was upgraded to 16K8, most folks were buying the Dual Standards.  
OTOH, I found numerous occasions when a HST connect could be established when 
a v.32bis connect could not.  Until v.34, HST was the robust protocol.
As for flash ROM being a kludge solution?  Flash ROM let me move my Couriers 
from V.FC to V.34 to V.34+ to x2 and soon to V.90 without having to change 
the modem hardware.  On units without flash ROMs, my options would have to 
been quite a bit more expensive and limited.  My opinion is that 
manufacturers are going to be releasing new updates and users are going to be 
installing new updates when the process is convenient and low cost.  Compare 
the cost and convenience of downloading code from a BBS or website to update 
your modem to the inconvenience and cost of sending your modem in for a 
firmware update or waiting for a new ROM to arrive.
 DH> The lesson to learn is to always wait until the standard committee
 DH> and manufacturers come to a concensus on modem specifications. Then
 DH> buy the new technology.
Or ensure that your hardware has an upgrade path.  However by your "lesson", 
you would never buy any new hardware.  After all, faster implementations are 
not all that far away.  Forget V.90, let's wait for ADSL.
Regards,
       David
--- timEd/2 1.10+
---------------