Hi ALL,
	I'm thinking of buying a new smartmodem 288 (without the D). Do people
think it is worth it? It has 8:1 compression doesn't it? Has anyone come across
any problems a normal household user might come accross? Does it have voice?
(the 288D seems too).

I am in a dilemma here - Our area isn't on Optus's list for cable planned for
the next year so I couldn't get a cable modem untill at least a year and I
definatly need a modem NOW. I have 2 choices : Buy a realy good modem that
hopefully will last me 5 years - the Smartmodem 288 (It has a 5 yr warrenty)
or 2 buy a 350 - 500 dollar modem now and wait till I get cable (they have laid 
an area 10 mins from me and there is a school by my street that may request it,
but other wise I don't think they will bother laying cable in this area for 2yrs
or something) and then buy a good cable modem.

Also - When many pple have cable and everyone is getting 33.6/33.6 connects,
will is be possible to use the flash rom to upgrade to a higher speed - well,
will they put out a code with higher speeds and how high are these speeds
likely to be?

Please give me your full point of view and reasons so I can try to make a WISE
decision as the 288 is a lot of money and I wouldn't want to WASTE it!!!

		THANX - ERIC

P.S. - My computer is only a 25Mhz 486 and I don't think it could handle
5MB / Sec - : ) Will you need a pentium to use cable modems?

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