David, I don't have any first hand experience with a WinModem. However, as you pointed out, only the controller functions have been offloaded to the CPU - the data pump DSP is still native to the modem. I know someone who used one on a 486/33. It seemed to work okay, but he did notice some system performance improvement when he upgraded the system board to a 486/66. It would be difficult to determine if the improvement was related to the WinModem overhead or not.
As far as the error correction overhead, current v.34 analog modems have errors induced at both ends of the connection. In x2, the ISP end of the connection is digital, and no (or minimal) errors in the data stream will occur at that end. The higher signal strength from the codec to your modem on the local loop should also allow for a lower error rate even at the higher 56k speed.
It's better than a "software modem" but certainly less than a Sportster or Courier. Unfortunatly, those who would tend to be a buyer of a WinModem would generally be those same individuals who have low horsepower CPUs. But, they are already used to slow system performance, so probably won't care. |
