Paul, at 08:42 on Jan 31 1996, you wrote to Bill Grimsley...

BG> Easy to say that the Courier shouldn't be demanding a retrain immediately 
BG> following the connect, but if that's its normal operation, I'd have fully 
BG> expected to be hearing other complaints about that.  Also, one of the more 
BG> objectionable and time-wasting duties I had to perform at CHH was to test 
BG> EVERY single modem they put up for sale (although I suppose DOAs _can_ be a 
BG> tad embarrassing), and this was done by calling Mike's own BBS - equipped 
BG> with a Courier - and DLing a largish file.  I must have tested literally 
BG> 100s of modems in this manner, the bulk of them being 14k4, yet I didn't 
BG> once see the problem you describe.  And there must be a HELL of a lot of 
BG> people calling Couriers with their Rockwell 14k4s too.

PE> And did you check all those modems, to see if a retrain had been
PE> requested?  If so, how did you check that?

No need to, Paul.  Even if the USR is demanding a retrain, NONE of the
current 14k4 and 28k8 modems I tested were bothered by this.  And frankly,
I really don't give a shit if you don't believe what I say to be true.

PE> [fx: falling flat on face]

And you do it so well, too.

BG> I think it might be wise to grab another 14k4 at your end if possible, and 
BG> see what happens then.  If it fails the same way, I'd also be pointing the 
BG> finger at Couriers in general.  All you've proved so far is that YOUR Supra 
BG> appears to have a minor incompatibility problem with 2 or 3 Couriers.

PE> Yes, an incompatibility which my Spirit DIDN'T have, meaning it
PE> is fixable from the USR end, although that does not necessarily
PE> mean that it is the USRs problem. 

Quite right.  And when it's only happening with ONE of your callers (and
NONE of the 100s of modems I tested with a Courier), that should tell you
something.  It sure does me.

PE> However, when you buy the world's most expensive modem,

The Courier is NOWHERE near the most expensive modem.  The American
Octocomms, Penrils, AT&Ts, and Telebits are all much dearer than the
Courier.  It's not even the dearest modem in Australia, either.  Not by a
long chalk.

PE> you expect it to be compatible with MORE thinks than a Spirit II, not less.  
PE> Anyhow, it's still far more likely to be a USR bug, because for it to be a 
PE> Supra fault, there has to be a bug in the Supra, that only occurs with a 
PE> USR, that makes it look like a retrain has been demanded when there
PE> was none.  It's certainly possible, but either way, the USR is
PE> not compatible with real-life modems.

Nope, all you've proved (and you really haven't even proved that) is that
ONE modem exhibits a problem calling USRs.  Apart from Rod's archaic Supra,
neither Dave nor I have EVER seen that problem before.

If somebody else eventually complains about the SAME problem, then I might
start listening, but until then, I'm simply no longer interested.

Regards, Bill

--- Msgedsq/2 3.20