Anthony, at 23:33 on Mon, May 23 1994, you wrote to Bill Grimsley ...

BG> Be very careful Paul, as Maestro have specifically stated 
BG> that their first V.FC modem (due shortly) will definitely be 
BG> using Rockwell's 28k8 V.FC protocol, and NOT V.34 (check the 
BG> MAESTRO echo).

AM> That friend of mine's new Maestro 2400 modem that I ask about a 
AM> while back occasionally can't detect dial tone.  

That is a problem which plagues most Maestros, I'm afraid. So much for
Austel approval being the saviour of us all.

AM> Another acquaintance bought a V32bis Maestro and is spitting 
AM> chips that an Australian designed modem can't detect the 
AM> australian exchange tones properly (in particular the dial 
AM> tone not at all!).  He has some preconception that he'll be 
AM> able to go back to Maestro and jump up and down and they'll 
AM> fix it for him. Nothing I could say would convince him that 
AM> things would be otherwise... :(

It never ceases to amaze me that the only modems which can reliably detect
local telco tones are non-approved US imports (I bet the USR never barfs at
your dialtones), which says a great deal about the ability of local
programmers to write decent ROM code for Oz modems (Netcomms also suffer
from similar problems).

It will be interesting to see how Geoff fares with his new Zoom 28k8, as
reports from the US have been somewhat less than complimentary regarding
this modem. I think I'll wait for the V.34 USR myself. Oh, BTW, Maestro
have announced that the RRP of their soon to be released V.FC (not V.34)
modem will be just over $800, and that's just too expensive AFA I'm
concerned, especially when an imported USR V.34 should cost much less than
that. Then again, given the paltry amount of files I download, 14k4 will do
me for a while yet.

Regards, Bill

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