Need Modem Advice

[jwells11]

I'm building an Ahtlon 1.4ghz system with 512mb of RAM. I'm wondering which type of V92 modem would be fastest for web surfing, a Winmodem or an external. With a fast system, will a Winmodem, which is dependant on system resources, be faster than an external? I don't play games nor do I upload information.

[EzyStvy]

Get anything BUT a winmodem. They are the bottom of the barrel.

An internal PCI modem will be several dollars less than an external modem.

[jwells11]

That's what I've heard. People seem to hate Winmodems. But what about relative speed, given 1) how fast system resources are today and 2) that its fully dedicated to windows.

[bailey]

no matter how good of a modem you get, your connection speed will be no faster than your phone line will allow, to a max of about 53k.

[jwells11]

True, so the question should be, to what degree does a particular modem's configuration (in this case external or winmodem) effect the speed of received throughput, if at all.

[glc]

There should be no difference in throughput, but a hardware controlled modem wil use less CPU cycles to do its work. If you want a good V.92, get the external serial US Robotics model 5686D. I don't like any PCI modems, hardware or otherwise because of installation and IRQ usage issues.

[jwells11]

Thanks for the info. How does the 5686 compare with the zoom 3049 external v.92 modem? It doesn't appear that the 5686 has v.44 compression technology (product literture for the modem mentions only v.42). Zoom does have v.44.

On a related topic, some modems were designed as v.90's but can be flash upgraded to v.92, i.e. USR Performance Pro 3PC5610; others were designed as v.92 from the get go. Does flashing a v.90 provide all the functionality of an off-the-shelf v.92 modem? That is, does a modem that was designed as a v.92 modem have optimized hardware that might make it the better choice? Or is the hardware identical. If identical, why doesn't the Performance Pro come with the
v.92?

[glc]

You looking at the 5686 or the 5686D? Zoom uses Lucent chipsets.

The Performance Pro came out before V.92. You are probably looking at old stock.

[hodunwun]

Will the USR 5686D modem run ok with Windows XP?

[glc]

Any external serial modem will run fine with XP as far as I know.

[azscary]

If you want more information about modems, including a discussion on disappointments of V.92 technology go here. An excellant modem reference site.

CLICK HERE FOR MODEM SITE! (http://www.808hi.com/56k/index.asp)

[SARGE]

If you want a v.92 buy one that's already that. Don't get a v.90 and try to flash it. ;)