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Pastimes : Dream Machine ( Build your own PC ) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Street Walker who wrote (3904)	12/6/1998 2:10:00 PM
From: funk	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14778

I believe one disadvantage of the winmodem is that they do not run with NT. funk

To: Street Walker who wrote (3904)	12/6/1998 6:06:00 PM
From: Paul K	Respond to of 14778

V.90 Modems reviewed (Dec 15, 1998 PC Magazine) Editors' Choice: 3Com U.S. Robotics Courier V.Everything Modem "With the V.90 standard a reality and most back-end equipment in place, the playing field has leveled out since last year's 56K modem roundup. Though vendors continue to add plenty of bells and whistles to differentiate their products, you should base your buying decision on performance and reliability. Once again, 3Com delivers the hands-down winner: the 3Com U.S. Robotics Courier V.Everything Modem ($240 list). This internal modem excelled on our performance tests, negotiating fast connections over the nastiest phone line conditions via its high throughput speeds and ability to probe the line to select better signal sets. And though it's priced considerably higher than much of the competition, the V.Everything includes useful features you won't see elsewhere, including remote management and security features geared for road warriors and businesspeople. Documentation, both print and on-screen, was helpful, and installation was a breeze. As a bonus, the software on the included Collections CD-ROM is one of the better bundles we saw. Look to packages from ActionTec, Boca, and Compaq, as well as for exceptional bundled software. Other modems in this roundup deserve mention. Although none of the modems we tested had difficulty performing on clean phone lines, another modem held up well under adverse conditions: the Compaq Microcom 415 56K External Modem with Speakerphone. We were also impressed with the performance of the models from ActionTec and Hayes, which negotiated the Moderately Compressible File Transfer test with ease. And for users on the lookout for a bargain, the modems from Boca and Diamond combine respectable throughput speeds with lower price tags." Reviews: zdnet.com What Are Win Modems? "CONTROLLERLESS MODEMS—often referred to as soft modems—rely on your system's CPU for much of their processing needs and shift all the modem protocols, error correction, and data compression into software. The architecture lets modem makers develop a much cheaper model that doesn't demand the RAM or processing power of traditional hardware units. Though lower prices are attractive, controllerless modems have limitations and advantages that need to be weighed carefully. Since there are fewer components on the modem board, they consume less power. Only a few milliwatts is enough to make a difference, though, especially on a laptop. And since software performs the processing, there's no hardware limitation to added features, making enhancements and upgrades easy to execute..." more... zdnet.com

To: Street Walker who wrote (3904)	12/7/1998 7:27:00 PM
From: Zeuspaul	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14778

Win..or FAX modems? I recall all votes on the side of FAX modems. The difference as described in Paul K's post. The Win modem is a software based modem and the FAX modem is hardware based. The FAX modem will minimize CPU utilization. I think the speed and format are a separate issue. There are still two (at least) formats..Kflex and X2 (and V.90, an X2 format?). The decision may rest with the ISP. One of my ISP's uses Kflex technology and the other X2. I opted for a modem that will automatically configure for either one. Modems are a bottleneck so I would go for 56K if the ISP supports the speed. Zeuspaul