🚀 go-pugleaf

Can anyone explain to me the differences (real or perceived)
between different brands of modems?  Flipping through Computer
Shopper, typical prices I'm finding for a few brands are:

	US Robotics		$550
	Hayes Optima		$470
	Practical Peripherals	$380
	Boca			$260
	Zoom			$250

(Probably not the lowest prices available -- I didn't search
that carefully.)  All are (I think) 14.4k modem/fax externals, 
with V.32(bis)/V.42(bis)/MNP (or maybe missing 1 or 2 of those), 
so it seems like the basic features are the same.  So what other
significant benefits do you get from the more expensive modems?

Are there really any differences in reliability?  I've been
using a Zoom 2400 baud modem for the past 3 years (one of the
cheapest brands I could find at the time), and I haven't noticed
any serious problems with errors, so I'm wondering what reasons
there are not to get the cheapest modem I can find, as long as
it has all of the protocols that I need.  Has anyone with a Boca
or Zoom 14.4k modem (or any other inexpensive modem) noticed any
major problems?

Also, let me just check some terminology:

	V.32 is a (protocol? standard?)
	V.32bis and V.42bis are data-compression schemes
	V.42 and MNP are error detection/correction schemes

Is this right?  (These are just my impressions from reading the
little advertising blurbs for the different modems.)  Is one type
of data compression or error detection better than the other?

Any help or specific modem recommendations would be appreciated.
(The only things I really want are 14.4k and V.32.  Everything
else is up in the air -- doesn't even have to be external.)

Thanks,

- Ernest Chuang
  echuang@cco.caltech.edu