Modem question??

[Dawn1024]

Anyone know of a good, decent 56k modem?

[DrZaius]

Look for a USR 2977, it's a good hardware modem.

[Kubie]

Dawn,
Another excellent modem is the Supra 2720 ISA.
Here's the link.

http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=23540025-PB

Carl

BTW, They're in San Diego so the shipping is 1 or 2 days.

[ssahl]

Whatever you get I would stay away from any PCI modems unless it's one DrZaius posted about, otherwise an external serial modem works best. Just dont ever get a 'software' modem as they (without going into detail) pretty much just plain suck. I use an external US Robotics Sportster x2 data fax modem and I not only connect at 53333bps almost everytime I go online, but I also can get download speeds of up to 8k or 9k per second, this applies to large files bigger then 5MB all the way through too, if it's coming from a good site like tucows.

[ssahl]

Hey, carlgif. I just noticed, a fellow modesto resident. Small world.

[Charger]

I'll second the USR 2977 if you only have a PCI slot available.

I consistently connect at 50666 and my DL rates between: 5-6.

Of course, there are other factors that affect your modem speeds. ISP, line quality, distance, etc.

[Cwilde65]

What is the difference between a hardware modem like the 2977 and a 'software' modem?

[doctorgonzo]

A software modem utilizes the CPU, which takes processor cycles away from more productive things and is a waste of resources. A hardware modem does everything itself, so it doesn't use the CPU.

[Cwilde65]

Does a hardware modem provide faster connections?

[DrZaius]

Does a hardware modem provide faster connections?In many cases, yes.

[morriswindgate]

If you have the money I strongly suggest an external serial interface modem.

[JUNG2]

How can you tell if you have hardware modem or software modem?:confused:

[Blakhart]

The chipset determines wether a modem is hard or software. The modem chipset, that is. Most pci modems are software. Anything called a winmodem is soft, as is anything (usualy) that will not run dos. The big diff is the hard do all the sig processing in/on the modem, while softies take cpu time to do everything.... They pretty much suck. Make a slower computer work far harder than need be. Get a hard modem if given the choice. Get info from the makers and the vendors before buying. There are some here that are looked upon favorably, like the usr 2977. Supra express comes to mind, but one must check for themselves on the type.

[Iman74]

You could never go wrong with a good USRobotics Modem, internal or external.

[glc]

Iman - you mean a good hardware USRobotics - "winmodem" is actually a USR trademark.