In my experience with 33600 modems (USR and Rockwells), I've never
personally managed a 33600 connect. I have connected Courier to M34F,
Courier to Courier, generic Rockwell to M34F, yet I've never managed 33600.
I've also never seen inbound 33600 connects. 31200 seems common, as does
28800.

This leads me to believe that a) none of the modems I have seen and used
have quite got their acts together; or b) it's a matter of having an
exceptionally clean phone line (close to an exchange -- at both ends) with
which to connect.

I'm inclined to dismiss the former in favour of the latter. Maybe I'm
missing something else here ...

In any event, 33600 seems quite impossible both here AND at work. I know
for a fact that my line here is of good quality, and I am not even a
kilometer from the exchange. Same deal at work, except the exchange (which
services around 10 Internet service providers, us included) is a great deal
closer.

Someone's theory about 3429 symbol rates does not seem to hold water, as
Ludi and I have connected at 31200, and our link diags show a 3429 symbol
rate at both ends of the link. Still, 33600 has JustNotHappened.

One important note: While I have never CONNECTED at 33600 bps, I have
dropped into terminal mode, checked the link stats and noticed a shift to
33600/33600. I've once ever seen this ONCE, but it's probably safe to
assume that the same has happened during PPP connects to work, as well as
other connects to modems capable (?) of connecting at 33600 bps.

I am attack-dialling Paul Sanders's Dragon now to see what sort of connect
my Courier manages to his modem. I will report back ... as soon as I am
able to actually connect (his line has been busy for as long as I've been
dialling).

On another side note, interestingly, I've noticed that a lot of 33.6k
Courier owners have mostly connected at 19200 bos to my own modem. Possibly
this is a line/exchange issue at their end, but I do receive a lot more
19200 connects than I ever did with a NetComm M11F (V.FC).

One last issue: I'm not sure what type of exchange mine is, but I will try
to find out as soon as I can. Perhaps my exchange type is responsible for
making 33600 initial connects impossible. Does anyone know what type of
exchange the Hurstville (NSW) exchange is?

John (japp{at}mpx.com.au)

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