On Friday, December 27 1996, Bill Grimsley wrote to John Piper ...

 JP> Aren't there any OTHER factors which can influence (one way or another)
 JP> the connect rates, or is the equation as simple as what I've described
 JP> above?

 BG> Yep, the modems themselves.

I figured that much. |-)

 BG> For example, the latest US/Canada USR SDL has apparently just fixed a
 BG> long-standing bug which had prevented Couriers from negotiating the
 BG> 3429 symbol rate (i.e. 33600bps connects) with inbound calls from most
 BG> (if not all) Rockwell-based modems.

That (the symbol rate negotiation problem) is a hassle.

 BG> Needless to say, Austel Couriers still suffer from this inherent problem,
 BG> which is probably why you've never seen an inbound 33k6bps connect from a
 BG> Rockwell yourself.

That would explain the lack of 33600 bps inbound calls. At a guess, most of
my users who own 33.6k modems would probably own Rockwells. Even so, I have
never seen any 33600 calls from USR and other non-Rockwell modem owners
either.

Austel USRs may have a problem negotiating 3429 symbol rates on inbound
calls from Rockwells, but surely Courier to Courier a 33600 connect is
possible!

On a hunch, I checked my mailer log for July, 1996, and discovered that I
had received quite a few incound 33600 connects. During that same month,
David Drummond crashmailed me and connected at 33600 too. Here are two
examples:

=  5:59:44  RING
=  5:59:55  CONNECT 33600/ARQ/V34/LAPM
+  6:00:04  Waycool Entertainment, 3:712/841.1{at}fidonet.org
~  6:00:04  SysOp: Angus Tong

=  8:30:27  RING
=  8:30:40  CONNECT 33600/ARQ/V34/LAPM/V42BIS
+  8:30:45  The JabberWOCky [USR Courier V.E], 3:640/305
~  8:30:45  SysOp: David Drummond

I believe Angus was using a Dynalink 33.6k, which was fairly new. I don't
know what modem (ie, Courier or Sportster) David used when he called me
though.

Angug's connects using the Dynalink 33.6k were consistent. I searched
through that month's log for "33600" and came across it quite a
few times. I have no idea what modem he is using now. Maybe he did buy a
Courier. I remember him asking about whether he should choose the Courier
or the Viper.

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

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