Hi Greg,

 GB> This is my first and last Netcomm modem. (A 33.6 Roadster)

I own one of these and it's working fine (28800 version)

 GB> We bought 3 of these between myself and a friend.  Upon opening the
 GB> box and plugging the first 1 in, it immediately let out the compressed
 GB> smoke contained in the chips inside and stopped working from that
 GB> second. 

Hunk of crap. Did you get it replaced?

 GB> The other 2 exibit a problem where if you initially set the terminal
 GB> speed to 115k, they will log on at 1200 baud.  This problem is
 GB> consistent using any  combination of computers. 

Okay. Roadsters are set for maximum compatibility (or so they say) and your
Roadster sounds like it is connecting to a BBS that has MNP 10. Simple.
AT-K0 removes this problem.
If you want MNP 10 put this in: AT-K1*H0{at}M-Q0
and that should work fine.

V42 and V42bis is probably the best: AT\N3%C3 (this adjusts to whatever the
modem at the other end can use)

 GB> A work around for this is to set the terminal speed to 57k type
"AT"
 GB> then go back to 115k, then it is ok. I don't consider this a
 GB> satisfactory fix though. 

Just leave it at 57600 then, most BBS's are only set for 38400 anyway and
the max seems to be 57600 (thats 6100cps on compressable files).

 GB> Today (Sunday 29/09/96) the carrier detect function has decided to say
 GB> goodnight.  This message is being transmitted to the BBS without the
 GB> aid of carrier.  (I bet not many modem manufacturers could do that)
 GB> (Think of the savings in phone calls) Unfortunately my Internet
 GB> software says "Sorry,  no carrier. I'm going to disconnect", even
 GB> though the host is sending and  receiving the logon information.

It sounds like an incompatibility problem. Modems are sometimes incompatible,
the M34F doesn't work very well with a USR Courier.
Have you tried calling another BBS? It seems unlikely that you would get
three stuffed modems as my Roadster worked out of the box.

 GB> Another problem is the Auto answer function. Try getting into
 GB> telemate, type  "ATA" to simulate a non modem phone call. The modem
 GB> will go through the  carrier search procedure until it selects 1200/75.
 GB> It will then decide that 1200/75 is present and lock to the line for
 GB> ever.  Thus no more incoming calls. 
 GB> I rang Netcomm about this and they gave me an initialisation string,
 GB> which  didn't work.

So what do you actually want to do? Do you want to get the modem to answer or
not to answer?
ATS0=0 sets auto answer. You could try one of the S registers or the ATXx
settings.

 GB> To get out of this thing, does anyone know whether Netcomm will let
 GB> you  upgrade??  (to a Maestro for instance?)

Don't give up just yet. Roadsters seem to be very problematic (judging by
everybody else's problems). Don't feed it init strings that you don't know
what the hell they are, just try AT&F and see if that works if you haven't
done so already.

 GB> I feel that these problems are the result of a poor piece of hardware,
 GB> and no initialisation string will resolve the problem.

Well, they have the same Rockwell chip in them! BIOS is the only thing that's
different.

Regards,
Alex

... Backup not found: (A)bort (R)etry (S)lap nearest innocent bystander.
--- BigKahunaMail 1.20X+