🚀 go-pugleaf

David Cassel (destiny@crl.com) wrote:
: My "Very Fast" class modem only connects to CRL's modems at 14.4.  
: 
: No wonder the thing was so cheap a year ago--I've been told the modem's
: protocol isn't supported by most modem manufacturers today.  (Though I can
: connect to my other ISP at 24000--they're using one of the few modems that
: still supports "Very Fast"...)
: 
: Get this:  I called the modem's manufacturer--Zoom--and they offered to 
: upgrade my modem.  For only $89.00.
: 
: Now soliciting modem tips for my coming trip to Fry's....

In order of preference:

	1. US Robotics Courier V.34+
	2. US Robotics Sportster V.34+
	3. See 1. and 2.
	4. Didn't you read number 3?

;^)

-- 
Paul Theodoropoulos      admin@wco.com
Vice President
West Coast Online, Inc.

		The Nicest Guy on the Internet

paul@wco.com (0000-Admin(0000)) wrote:

>David Cassel (destiny@crl.com) wrote:
>: My "Very Fast" class modem only connects to CRL's modems at 14.4.  
>: 
>: No wonder the thing was so cheap a year ago--I've been told the modem's
>: protocol isn't supported by most modem manufacturers today.  (Though I can
>: connect to my other ISP at 24000--they're using one of the few modems that
>: still supports "Very Fast"...)
>: 
>: Get this:  I called the modem's manufacturer--Zoom--and they offered to 
>: upgrade my modem.  For only $89.00.
>: 
>: Now soliciting modem tips for my coming trip to Fry's....

>In order of preference:

>	1. US Robotics Courier V.34+
>	2. US Robotics Sportster V.34+
>	3. See 1. and 2.
>	4. Didn't you read number 3?

>;^)


Re: #2

I guess you haven't been reading comp.dcom.modems lately Paul?

(I agree w/ #1)



Phil


--
Philip J. Koenig         Computers & Communications           pjk@aimnet.com

[Notice: the contents of any unsolicited email sent to this email address
 is hereby declared public property and may be used for any purpose I deem
 necessary.  You have been warned.]

Philip J. Koenig (pjk@aimnet.com) wrote:
: >In order of preference:
: 
: >	1. US Robotics Courier V.34+
: >	2. US Robotics Sportster V.34+
: >	3. See 1. and 2.
: >	4. Didn't you read number 3?

: Re: #2
: 
: I guess you haven't been reading comp.dcom.modems lately Paul?
: 
: (I agree w/ #1)


No, S:N ratio in c.d.m. is too low for me. I'm aware of assorted problems
with the earlier V.34+ ROM revs (before we started buying USR Digital
modem racks, we used a fair number of sportsters, and got hit once with a
shipment of 50 V.34+ modems, of which 26 went DAD [dead after deployment]
within a month). But I haven't kept up on any current complaints. So far
as I know, the current Sportster V.34+ modems are adequate for end-user
applications...

-- 
Paul Theodoropoulos      admin@wco.com
Vice President
West Coast Online, Inc.

		The Nicest Guy on the Internet

In article <4ug290$i8a@crl10.crl.com>, destiny@crl.com (David Cassel) wrote:

[modem woes snipped]
>Now soliciting modem tips for my coming trip to Fry's....

I use a SupraExpress, I've had no problems with it, they cost in the
$100-$150 range. I've just got mine upgraded to 33.6 (cost me $10) and I
finally connected at greater than 28.8. (31200 yah!) Its been consitantly
connecting at 28.8.

-- 
Barry
Barry@netbox.com                       <http://www.netbox.com/barry>
                           ------
    Posted under the restrictions imposed by the US government.

Kyle R. Hofmann <rhofmann@crl.com> wrote:
:In article <4uie7s$ean@news.wco.com>, 0000-Admin(0000) wrote:
:: David Cassel (destiny@crl.com) wrote:
:: : Now soliciting modem tips for my coming trip to Fry's....
:
:: In order of preference:
:
::       1. US Robotics Courier V.34+
::       2. US Robotics Sportster V.34+
:                       ^^^^^^^^^
:  Ack!  No no no no no no no!  *DO NOT* buy a USR Sportster!  Couriers 
:are OK, but Sportsters are a NO!

MOO. (Matter of Opinion) I've got sportsters in both my Mac and my PC, and
I love 'em. Run the most current ROM version, and you will have a rock
solid modem. (The Courier is a *lot* easier to upgrade, the Sportster
requires a chip-swap, but it *is* free.) YMMV.
     Your pal,   -doc-

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------
Thaddeus "Doc" Ozone       "Specialization is for insects." 
Personal home page..........<http://www.visi.com/~drozone/>
Apocalypse Studios...........<http://www.ozones.com/ozone/>
-------A proud WinterNyet Refugee from July of 1996--------

What's wrong with the Sportster?  Besides the fact that it blows chunks
with CRL's MultiYeechs?  ;)

Dunno how you can beat a 33.6 modem for $189.  No problems with mine,
except with CRL but that's CRL's fault for using those cheap imitation
modems...  Anyway I lock the baud rate at 24.0 or 26.4 and it's much
better, usually.

>::       2. US Robotics Sportster V.34+
>:are OK, but Sportsters are a NO!
>I love 'em. Run the most current ROM version, and you will have a rock

I checked out the comp.dcom.modem(s) place and it looks like current
versions, the ones with a 92.x MHz clock (use ATI7 or maybe 11, or
one of those to check) -- pretty new ones, have problems.  There's
said to be a ROM fix, but maybe just internals, and then only if
there's a socket (some don't have sockets anymore).  Beats me what
the problems are exactly, but I've seen 'pauses' referred to often.

FTR, I have the old 20.x MHz clock, in a V.34 Vi (28.8 tops) and
it runs fine, even with &K3 here.  When CRL isn't puttering around,
I get 3250cps on zips, no errors, minimal blers/naks, etc.  99 times
out of 100 I get in at 28800, and the rest 26400 (once lower, whatever
it was).  When CRL is puttering around, I get 2800-3000cps, CTS 
toggling.  When CRL is in the ground, I get 1700-2000cps and lots of
errors on downloads (CRC errors, often different types according to
my comm program, zoc), and editing is futile.  

Right now, Pine is working fine, except I just have a 7-second pause
back-spacing after 'futile'.  This, I believe, is not the same 
pause that new Sporsters owners are complaining about; CRL craps out
without any help from the modem.

Here's my ATI6, followed by an ATO to get back:

OK
ATI6
USRobotics Sportster Vi 28800 Faxmodem Link Diagnostics...

Chars sent                 1536      Chars Received           148992
Chars lost                    0
Octets sent                3630      Octets Received          109389
Blocks sent                1794      Blocks Received            4057
Blocks resent                13

Retrains Requested            0      Retrains Granted              1
Line Reversals                0      Blers                         2
Link Timeouts                 3      Link Naks                     5

Data Compression       V42BIS 1024/32
Equalization           Long
Fallback               Enabled
Protocol               LAPM
Speed                  28800/28800
Current Call           00:34:30

Online

Chars Received and the other char-amounts simply overflow at a small 
number; I can be on for hours going through usenet and never see any
true sort of character counts here.

-- 
 .                                             .
 :    Quality Toolkits and Applications for    : info@40th.com
 :          DOS - Win16 - Win32 - OS/2         : http://www.40th.com/
 :                                             : BBS:1-210-684-8065

Jeff Walkup <jwalkup@crl.com> wrote:

>What's wrong with the Sportster?  Besides the fact that it blows chunks
>with CRL's MultiYeechs?  ;)


That is quite possibly due to a USR issue, not a Multitech one.  See 
comp.dcom.modems.


>Dunno how you can beat a 33.6 modem for $189.  No problems with mine,
>except with CRL but that's CRL's fault for using those cheap imitation
>modems...  Anyway I lock the baud rate at 24.0 or 26.4 and it's much
>better, usually.


Multitech's like what CRL has (I assume they are using the managed rackmounts)
are not cheap modems by any stretch.  If you had any idea what some ISP's are
running, you'd get the point.

Re: $189, if you're looking for cheap, how about a 28.8 USR clone from some
Baby Bell (Southwestern Bell?) I saw at NCA the other day for something
like $119!



Phil


--
Philip J. Koenig         Computers & Communications           pjk@aimnet.com

[Notice: the contents of any unsolicited email sent to this email address
 is hereby declared public property and may be used for any purpose I deem
 necessary.  You have been warned.]

cornel@crl.com (Cornel Huth) wrote:

>Here's my ATI6, followed by an ATO to get back:

>OK
>ATI6
>USRobotics Sportster Vi 28800 Faxmodem Link Diagnostics...

>Chars sent                 1536      Chars Received           148992
>Chars lost                    0
>Octets sent                3630      Octets Received          109389
>Blocks sent                1794      Blocks Received            4057
>Blocks resent                13

>Retrains Requested            0      Retrains Granted              1
>Line Reversals                0      Blers                         2
>Link Timeouts                 3      Link Naks                     5

>Data Compression       V42BIS 1024/32
>Equalization           Long
>Fallback               Enabled
>Protocol               LAPM
>Speed                  28800/28800
>Current Call           00:34:30

>Online


To have that many Naks and Timeouts on a 34 minute connection is not
IMHO exactly a pristine connection.  Not horrible, but not perfect. 
I've had sessions of several hours at 33600 on my Courier with zeroes 
in ALL the error columns... although it doesn't happen all the time.



Phil


--
Philip J. Koenig         Computers & Communications           pjk@aimnet.com

[Notice: the contents of any unsolicited email sent to this email address
 is hereby declared public property and may be used for any purpose I deem
 necessary.  You have been warned.]

Kyle R. Hofmann wrote the quoted material below:

" : 	1. US Robotics Courier V.34+
" : 	2. US Robotics Sportster V.34+
"                        ^^^^^^^^^
"   Ack!  No no no no no no no!  *DO NOT* buy a USR Sportster!  Couriers 
" are OK, but Sportsters are a NO!

I just got a Sportster and it's excellent.  I've had not so much as a 
single error and that's doing downloads while using Win95 for other 
things such as Word at the same time.  My throughput averages about 3025 
cps, with a high of about 3200 cps.

--
(c) 1996         "It's a pity that Dan Lungren cannot mind his own business
David Kaye        and let San Franciscans handle the local use of marijuana
                  as medicine." - SF Chronicle editorial 8/6/96

>To have that many Naks and Timeouts on a 34 minute connection is not
>IMHO exactly a pristine connection.  Not horrible, but not perfect. 

They're perfectly acceptable numbers to me, but they can be so and
CRL still lags so bad at times that

-- 
 .                                             .
 :    Quality Toolkits and Applications for    : info@40th.com
 :          DOS - Win16 - Win32 - OS/2         : http://www.40th.com/
 :                                             : BBS:1-210-684-8065

I'd like to cast a vote for the SupraFAXModem 28.8 (now 33.6 as sold, I
think).  I have one, and it's been, well, a super Supra.  The company has
an attentive presence on Usenet (I read postings on comp.sys.mac.comm),
and its representatives are courteous and helpful.  Oh, and the modem's
performance--I connect consistently at 28.8 with CRIS via my Santa Barbara
dial-up and get good throughput.  (CRIS itself has some network problems,
but my modem connection is good.)  The digital display is nifty and
informative.  Etc...

Tara
-- 
Tara Marchand
trmarch@cris.com                        http://www.cris.com/~trmarch/

In article <4uie7s$ean@news.wco.com>, 0000-Admin(0000) wrote:
: David Cassel (destiny@crl.com) wrote:
: : Now soliciting modem tips for my coming trip to Fry's....

: In order of preference:

: 	1. US Robotics Courier V.34+
: 	2. US Robotics Sportster V.34+
                       ^^^^^^^^^
  Ack!  No no no no no no no!  *DO NOT* buy a USR Sportster!  Couriers 
are OK, but Sportsters are a NO!

        -Kyle R. Hofmann

In <4ulvn0$ra@crl13.crl.com> dk@crl.com (David A. Kaye) writes:

>I just got a Sportster and it's excellent.  I've had not so much as a 
>single error and that's doing downloads while using Win95 for other 
>things such as Word at the same time.

Sportsters are great if they are compatible with the modem
at the other end, lousy otherwise.
-- 
Rahul Dhesi <dhesi@rahul.net>
"please ignore Dhesi" -- Mark Crispin <mrc@CAC.Washington.EDU>

In article <4ulcru$m7l@crl3.crl.com>, Cornel Huth wrote:
: Beats me what the problems are exactly, but I've seen 'pauses' referred 
: to often.

  OK, the pauses problem is one the happens most often with packet based 
connections (such as PPP).  It has to do with the Sportster's compression 
facilities.  What happens is that the Sportster starts recieving packets, 
compresses it, and sends it off.  But what happens when there's not 
enough packets to trigger the data compressions?  The answer: death.  It 
simply hangs until it recieves enough to compress and send, which is not 
going to happen if the other end is waiting for a response.

  This is easy to fix, fortunately; you simply have to change the ROM.  
If you have a socket for your ROM, you can wait for a new ROM to arrive 
via mail, pop out the old one, and plug in the new one.  If it's soldered 
in, you send your modem to USR, where they will replace the ROM for you.  
Works great, as long as you get a response.  It literally takes _months_ 
for USR to get to your problem and either fix your modem or send you the 
ROM.  Sometimes you never see the modem again; they will refuse to 
acknowledge that they ever recieved a modem from you.  If you're lucky, 
you can get the modem back in as little as a month.  If not, you can wait 
five or six months for something to happen, and _still_ not recieve a 
response.  This isn't unique to ROMs, but is universal when dealing with 
Sportster support.

  All of this doesn't apply to the Courier.  The Courier is actually a 
pretty good modem, and doesn't have the same bugs and support troubles.  
If you want a USR modem, the Courier is the one to get.

  (BTW, look at comp.dcom.modems if you want more opinions on the issue)

        -Kyle R. Hofmann

In article <4ug290$i8a@crl10.crl.com>, David Cassel <destiny@crl.com> wrote:
>
>Now soliciting modem tips for my coming trip to Fry's....

Something with a Flash BIOS.

I got my MultiTech 2834BA cheap because it was so expensive that no one
bought any and "the place I got it from" discontinued it and dumped their
inventory (two, how many $800 modems would you order?). Look around, it is 
a reasonable pattern and could happen elsewhere.

I like it alot.

My old Courier v.everything also had a flash BIOS. Should save you from at 
least one upgrade. And it really did connect and stay connected better 
than the Sportster that I had before it.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Scott Van Note * Undergraduate in Material Sciences and Fine Art  ASU
In the aether at scottv@crl.com, On the earth in Tempe Arizona, USA
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Tara Marchand (trmarch@cris.com) wrote:
: I'd like to cast a vote for the SupraFAXModem 28.8 (now 33.6 as sold, I
: think).  I have one, and it's been, well, a super Supra. 

Like Tara, I'd recommend the Supra 28.8.  Flash roms; flash upgrade
will connect at 33.6;  Will interoperate well with most modems with
simple settings;  A solid conection stays solid.

Two week turnaround for free factory warrantee work (when I blitzed the
flash using the wrong program and flash upload).

Sportsers do work well with compatable modems, but are a pain in the xxx
when connecting to a wide range of old and new systems.

--
Daniel B. Suthers, CCP
Systems Analyst, DBSystems
dbs@aimnet.com