Good Price on Hardware Modem?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mark Wilson
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Mark Wilson

I need a new modem.

I'm pretty sure that the best way for me to go is an internal (PCI) full
hardware v92 modem. However, the only one I know of is USRs V92 Performance
Pro, which is $79.95 USD.

First, I'd like to know if anyone can recommend a cheaper modem that's just
as good as the US Robo one, and better yet, can you tell me where to go to
get it? Online?

I know that software modems used to be something to stay far away from, but
now that CPUs (and buses) are so much faster, is this really a significant
consideration anymore? I can get easily a software modem for less than half
the price of a hardware.

Is there any SPEED difference between external and interal modems?

Thanks for your advice.
 
[POSTED TO comp.dcom.modems - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

In <[email protected]> on Fri, 8 Aug 2003 11:32:20
Mark Wilson said:
I need a new modem.

I'm pretty sure that the best way for me to go is an internal (PCI) full
hardware v92 modem. However, the only one I know of is USRs V92 Performance
Pro, which is $79.95 USD.

First, I'd like to know if anyone can recommend a cheaper modem that's just
as good as the US Robo one, and better yet, can you tell me where to go to
get it? Online?
Click to expand...

I recently got a used but like new Multi-Tech-Tech MT5634ZPX on eBay for less
than $10, including shipping.
Is there any SPEED difference between external and interal modems?
Click to expand...

No.
 
An internal modem can have better throughput when transferring highly
compressible data. I often see 20KBps when downloading newsgroup
headers, for example. Compare this with an external serial modem which
would be limited by the COM port to only 11KBps. The majority of
internal modems are also immune to buffer overrun errors which may
have a slight impact on performance.
Click to expand...

What you see is not what you are really getting.
 
[POSTED TO comp.dcom.modems - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

In <[email protected]> on Sat, 09 Aug 2003 07:14:13
+1000 said:
An internal modem can have better throughput when transferring highly
compressible data. I often see 20KBps when downloading newsgroup
headers, for example. Compare this with an external serial modem which
would be limited by the COM port to only 11KBps.
Click to expand...

Nope. Windows and most ISPs use software compression, with which the COM port
isn't a limitation.
The majority of
internal modems are also immune to buffer overrun errors which may
have a slight impact on performance.
Click to expand...

Nope.
 
Look for ActionTec

Mark said:
I need a new modem.

I'm pretty sure that the best way for me to go is an internal (PCI) full
hardware v92 modem. However, the only one I know of is USRs V92 Performance
Pro, which is $79.95 USD.

First, I'd like to know if anyone can recommend a cheaper modem that's just
as good as the US Robo one, and better yet, can you tell me where to go to
get it? Online?

I know that software modems used to be something to stay far away from, but
now that CPUs (and buses) are so much faster, is this really a significant
consideration anymore? I can get easily a software modem for less than half
the price of a hardware.

Is there any SPEED difference between external and interal modems?

Thanks for your advice.
Click to expand...
 
You can't count data compression when talking about speeds.

Put a six pack in the trunk of your car and drive as fast as you can
for 10 miles. Now put another six pack in the trunk and drive as fast
as you can for 10 miles. You can't say the second trip was twice as
fast because it moved twice as much brew.
 
[POSTED TO comp.dcom.modems - REPLY ON USENET PLEASE]

In <[email protected]> on Sun, 10 Aug 2003 07:34:53
+1000 said:
System Monitor tells me that I'm seeing and getting exactly that. I
have also measured the throughput with a watch, as have others. Some
Lucent controllerless modems will do even better than mine.

Here are some real test results using an artificially created highly
compressible file:
Click to expand...

Which is of course meaningless.
 
You can't count data compression when talking about speeds.
Click to expand...

Of course you can, if the modem's firmware is responsible for the
compression and if by "speed" you actually mean "throughput".
Put a six pack in the trunk of your car and drive as fast as you can
for 10 miles. Now put another six pack in the trunk and drive as fast
as you can for 10 miles. You can't say the second trip was twice as
fast because it moved twice as much brew.
Click to expand...

When we talk of performance in relation to modems, we are not talking
about raw DCE speed. We are interested in *throughput*. If my internal
modem is capable of shifting more data than your external one, all
things being equal, then it is the better performer under those
conditions. To use your analogy, if one delivery vehicle can move
twice as much cargo in the same time over the same distance as another
van, then it is twice as efficient.


- Franc Zabkar
 
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