Rod, at 15:33 on Mar 30 1996, you wrote to Paul Edwards...

PE> Bill, I've never been able to get any modem manufacturer to fix my bugs.

RS> Sure, but some get fixed anyway. Bills latest Sportster rom helped
RS> heaps. I got the same result with one Supra rom change. Its very
RS> handy to be able to just flash some new code into the rom.

Paul is quite wrong about the bug-fixes, as most manufacturers release
updated ROMs from time to time, even Digicom's Spirit, which had 4 or 5 ROM
changes from memory.  Unfortunately, in their case, it didn't solve the
problem. 

However, look at NetComm, Avtek, Maestro, Banksia, Supra, USR, ZyXel,
AT&T, Microcom, Hayes, Motorola, Intel, (shall I keep going, or have I
made my point?), ALL of whom have released numerous ROM or EPROM upgrades
and bugfixes at one time or another.  In fact, the only manufacturers who
don't appear to do this are the ones making the el-cheapo Taiwanese
Rockwell clones.

RS> Corse a separate question is whether the obscene price of the Courier is
RS> worth spending to get that. I personally cant justify spending that even
RS> with my STD phone call costs, let alone the other question of waiting till
RS> the warts have been mostly excised from V34 before I do go V34 myself.

Which shouldn't matter at all if you buy a generic DSP-powered modem,
because of their non-reliance on hard-coded, masked datapumps.  The
flash-ROM Courier, for example, started its life as a V.32terbo modem, and
all extended protocols have simply been additional ROM code, so unless you
specifically wanted to buy a Rockwell-based V.34, there's no real reason to
hang off any longer IMO.

PE> I couldn't get Borland to fix their compiler, etc etc. Not much use having
PE> the feature if the real problem is that they're not going to fix it.

RS> Usually with a decent modem supplier it does get fixed tho.

Have you included NetComm in that comment, or are you still undecided?  :)

PE> Besides, can't I get a ROM upgrade for $20 or something
PE> from Netcomm? $20 is one-year's interest on the $200 saving.

RS> Yeah, thats one consideration.

As long as the modem is still within its warranty period, NetComm ROM
upgrades have always been supplied FOC (dunno if that's still current
policy though).

BG> The REAL advantage with the top-end modems, like the USR Courier and
BG> the AT&T Paradyne, is the future upgradeability of these products,
BG> and I for one am more than happy to pay a premium for that ability.

PE> It isn't worth $200 to ME,

RS> Sure, thats a valid point, and I basically feel the same way, the price
RS> hike just cant be justified. Corse if it was possible to get full DSP
RS> flashrom for the SAME price it would be a different matter entirely.

It's only Paul's rabid insistence upon using only Austel approved modems
which is why the Courier would cost him $200 more than the M34F.  I presume
that like me, when the time comes you will be buying from the US anyway. 
At US$249 for my Courier, I'm expecting to pay no more than A$450-odd,
freight and sales tax paid, delivered to my front door.  Not being a sysop,
I can't even buy an M34F for that price locally!

If you want to take advantage of that special trade-in price yourself, all
you have to do is hunt around and find somebody who'll sell you their old
Courier HST for $30 or $40, and you're away.  I'd let you have mine, except
I think I'll be needing it...  :)

RS> What some Taiwanese devil should do is make a clone of the
RS> Courier, and just supply some adequate code, and arrange it
RS> so that it would always run the USR Courier flashrom code |-)

Yeah, and I can just see USR standing around letting them do it too.  Mind
you, if they DID do such a thing, there's not a lot the yanks can do
anyway. 

RS> That would REALLY put the fox amoungst the chickens |-)

Or the 7th fleet amongst the Chinese navy...

PE> so there's no point you telling me I've bought a lemming etc etc,

RS> Its lemon actually |-)

Reminds me of the old Monty Python sketch, where Cleese orders a double
martini with a twist of lemming.  Gross!  The RSPCA must have loved that
one.  :)

Regards, Bill

--- Msgedsq/2 3.20