Keith, at 16:20 on Nov 18 1995, you wrote to Bill Grimsley...

BG> It ain't FRZry any more - the USR Courier really is a superior modem at
BG> this point in time.  Undeniably observed fact.  Seems you DO get what you
BG> pay for.

KR> i dont know that i really get all this modem stuff. 

That's obvious.  :)

KR> i've got the cheapest 144fm that i ever saw (thats why i bought it), it has 
KR> a rockwell chipset, and that seems to be considered by the experts as low
KR> as you can go, but i cant remember the last time that i had a failed
KR> connect, and the transfer rates seem as good as any. i dont use
KR> interstate connections much, but i have done modem and fax connects to
KR> the us with no problem. 

Sure, but once you make the jump to V.34 or V.34+, the equation changes
quite dramatically, as that's basically approaching on the upper frequency
limit of our analogue phone lines.  Indeed, apart from the earlier S2s (and
series 3 Netcomms), the vast majority of 14k4 modems worked just fine,
Rockwell-based or otherwise.  Not so with the current crop of V.34s though.

KR> at work we have a whole network of maestros with pcs in every state, and
KR> we use carbon copy to look up databases remotely, and transfer data
KR> without any problem. we use the same maestros (at 2400 synchronous) for
KR> the mainframes to dial home to the us, again without problem other than
KR> a higher than usual fallout rate (approx 15% have died in 3.5 years). 

2400 bps is not a fair test at all.  You can achieve that on the proverbial
wet piece of string...  :)

KR> we are also using motorola fast talk 2s again rockwell very successfully,
KR> although they dont work very well on our super duper digital pabx, 9600
KR> connects to tymnet rarely succeed, and 14.4 downloads average 1 error per
KR> 10k, but put on an outside line they are perfect.

That's a PABX limitation, not the modems'.  Be thankful that you don't have
a Commander system, as the modems wouldn't work at all.

KR> all in all, we have about 40 rockwell modems, and we could not ask much 
KR> more out of them. 

As they're all 14k4s, I'm not at all surprised.  When (and if) you
eventually upgrade to V.34s though, you'll be in for a very nasty surprise,
I promise you.

KR> so, if i have $600 i'll put it toward another 16 meg of memory, much
KR> better value imho (:

Sure, no argument with that at all.  I've not long ago done the same thing,
and doesn't OS/2 now scream along with 32Mb of RAM!  :)

Regards, Bill

--- Msgedsq/2 3.20