Simon, at 17:43 on Jan 01 1997, you wrote to Bill Grimsley...

BG> The issue has become somewhat clouded too, due to some 
BG> modems having separate settings for enabling speed-shifting, 
BG> as distinct from full retrains.

SB> Yup. I am also now playing around with a 33.6K Dynalink USR 
SB> Sportster clone, and on the ATI6 screen it always reports 
SB> "Fallback Disabled". What is this fallback, is it related to 
SB> speedshifting? How can it be enabled, and is it desirable to do so?
SB> The manual, as always, doesnt say much of value.

Oddly enough, the "Fallback Disabled" mentioned in the
Sportster's ATI6 stats relates specifically to the HST protocol, even
though that class of USR modem doesn't support it.  Sounds ridiculous, I
know, but this has been verified with USR's tech support themselves.

SB> Another point, I've heard a lot about a bug in the V42bis 
SB> compression (?) which is supposed to cause large delays under 
SB> certain circumstances, but I cant seem to provoke these 
SB> symptoms at all, after using it on both BBS work, and dialup 
SB> internet for more than a week. In other words, it seems to be 
SB> working fine.

That problem generally only shows up during interactive (i.e.
"chat") mode.  When transferring files etc., its V.42bis works
just fine.

SB> Is it possible this specimen has later version firmware that fixes the 
SB> bug?  Here is an ATI7 dump:
[ ... ]
SB> EPROM date             8/13/96
SB> DSP date               8/13/96

Looks like the affected series to me, although due to the specific nature
of the problem, some people may never see it at all.  USR recommend the use
of S12=0 as a quick fix, although what the escape code guard time has to do
with BTLZ is completely beyond me.

SB> Also, do you know where I might find some technical information on the 
SB> significance of the various stats on the undocumented ATI11 screen?

DL the text-based Sportster and Courier technical manuals from www.usr.com,
and all will be revealed (the Courier manual is far more descriptive).  If
you need to know more than that, link into the USR_Modems echo and simply
ask.

Regards, Bill

--- MsgedSQ/2 3.50