Are external modems the best?

[CragStar]

I want to buy a new modem, something better than the HSP56 one I have at the moment. I was looking at a Hardware modem, external because I have heard that they are the best (hence the higher price!).

Is this true?

I have a pci SupreExpress 56i pro V CC modem aswell which is redundant at the mo because my HSP56 works better than it, and I don't want to waste money on something which wont give me a better performance.

So, is an external better or what, or will I see no increase in performance?

[LawyerRon]

You certainly can't go wrong with an external modem. Just stay away from the USB models. Diamond makes a great external model.

[mhayes]

You won't neccessarily see a difference in performance over an internal modem, in some cases the internal can outperform the external. The obvious advantage is that you don't have to crack the case to install it and you get to look at the pretty lights. I personally prefer to have an external modem so I don't waste any slots.

[KevinB]

The key difference is not whether the modem is internal or external, but whether the moden is hardware or software. All(?) external modens are hardware, that is they use chips and circuits to turn the data into tones for the phone line, plus all the fancy error checking etc.

Most (was 'all' until recently) internal modems are software modems - called WinModems. The card is hardly more than a way to connect the physical phone wires to one of the interface areas of the computer. It uses software to turn the data into tones etc, plus all the overhead of the error checking etc. All this adds an extra load to the CPU that an external modem doesn't. And they don't usually run under Linux (or DOS!)

That said, external modems are limited by the serial port. Old computers had slow serial port UART chips, so internal was often better. That's rarely true on newer machines.

The long and the short of the difference is that you might well not notice if your CPU is 1GHz and you dabble on-line. But use an internal modem to download IE5.5 whilst running your favourite game on the PC, and you'll definitely feel the pinch.

[Xayd]

Not all externals are hardware controlled anymore, there are USB Winmodems.

USB for modems should be avoided anyways. Data transfer over analog technology is flaky enough as it is, no reason to factor in the flakeyness of USB and it's CPU overhead to boot.

Xayd

[bdunn]

I prefer external modems. The lights allow me to see what is going on to a greater degree and the major advantage I find is that you can reset an external modem without restarting your PC.

I just bouhgt 2 dozen MulitiTech ZDX series modems for the office and they are so much better than the old ones they are replacing.

[glc]

Kevin's post is very good - with one exception - internal modems (all ISA at that time) were ALL hardware modems until a few years ago - when Winmodems started appearing. Yes, until recently all *PCI* internal modems were Winmodems - and there are now hardware models appearing.

My preferences are - in this order:

1. If you have an ISA slot, you cannot beat a good hardware internal such as a Supra Express 56i (USA only) or a US Robotics Sportster NON-winmodem.

2. No ISA slots? Go with a quality external serial modem.

3. If you have no ISA slots and do not want an external, look for a hardware PCI modem such as the Zoom 2920 or the USR Performance Pro.

Decent Winmodems are fine on a powerful machine for casual use (websurfing, etc.) but impact heavily on gaming performance. The best Winmodems in my opinion are the Lucents.

[reboot]

Other internal PCI hard modems worth looking at:
GVC great for the budget buyer http://www.gvc.ca
Multitech bring $$$, but CHOCK FULL of goodies.
Actiontech ditto above.
Read more http://www.pcmech.com/article.htm?great1