'software' or 'hardware' modem?

[Jin]

Hi;
I live in a very rural area, and can only connect
to the internet via modem.
The connection here rarely ever goes over 28,800
(I have no other noise on the lines).

Can anyone tell me what kind of modem is better:
a ISA or a PCI?

And, does anyone know how to tell if a modem is a
'software' or 'hardware' modem?

Thanks, for any advice!
Jin

 

[mcheu]

Hi;
I live in a very rural area, and can only connect
to the internet via modem.
The connection here rarely ever goes over 28,800
(I have no other noise on the lines).

Can anyone tell me what kind of modem is better:
a ISA or a PCI?

When it comes right down to it, even if you connect at v92 speeds,
it's going to be way slower than the ISA bus, so when it comes to
modems, the slot type really doesn't matter. The big consideration if
your machine can accept both ISA and PCI modems is that when you
upgrade, the newer machine won't have ISA slots, so an ISA modem will
already be obsolete when you buy it. In that one respect, a PCI modem
would be better.

And, does anyone know how to tell if a modem is a
'software' or 'hardware' modem?

Look at the included driver. If the file is pretty small (or works
with the generic driver found in windows), then it's a hardware modem.
The driver layer is fairly simple and small for hardware modems
because it doesn't have to emulate as much stuff. On a modern
machine, it really doesn't matter much whether you get a hardware or
software modem. On a slower machine (less than a Pentium 166), then
you may get dropped connections, system crashes, slow downs (showing
as actual system slow down, as well as high latency) as the machine
tries to grab CPU time to do the modem emulation. This isn't much of
an issue these days, because today's machines have more than enough
horse power to do the emulation reliably.

At this point, the only issue when it comes to a software modem is
that you will have problems trying to get it working in DOS. In
Linux, there's been some progress towards a generic soft modem driver,
but I don't think anyone's done anything similar for DOS yet.

 

[@drian]

Hi;
I live in a very rural area, and can only connect
to the internet via modem.
The connection here rarely ever goes over 28,800
(I have no other noise on the lines).

Can anyone tell me what kind of modem is better:
a ISA or a PCI?

Either is fine, as even an ISA modem can't go fast enough for that slot.

And, does anyone know how to tell if a modem is a
'software' or 'hardware' modem?

That's tricky. Usually with software based modem's, there is a software
driver (other than an .INF file) or actual software to install in order for
the modem to be functional.

@drian.

 

[Mike Walsh]

Hi;
I live in a very rural area, and can only connect
to the internet via modem.
The connection here rarely ever goes over 28,800
(I have no other noise on the lines).

Can anyone tell me what kind of modem is better:
a ISA or a PCI?

Either should perform equally well. There is more of a difference depending on whether it is a hardware or software modem. A software modem is supposed to be able to work with a 166 Mhz Pentium, but I have seen 800 Mhz and faster systems that will hesitate for several seconds at a time e.g. when the modem is trying to connect to a web site. I have never seen that happen with any of the old ISA hardware modems that I have installed.

And, does anyone know how to tell if a modem is a
'software' or 'hardware' modem?

The system requirements for a hardware modem are minimal, e.g. DOS and a 386 processor.

 

[philo]

Hi;
I live in a very rural area, and can only connect
to the internet via modem.
The connection here rarely ever goes over 28,800
(I have no other noise on the lines).

Can anyone tell me what kind of modem is better:
a ISA or a PCI?

And, does anyone know how to tell if a modem is a
'software' or 'hardware' modem?

Thanks, for any advice!
Jin

the slow connection is probably more due to the phone lines
than it is with the modem

 

[user]

Hi;
I live in a very rural area, and can only connect
to the internet via modem.
The connection here rarely ever goes over 28,800
(I have no other noise on the lines).

Can anyone tell me what kind of modem is better:
a ISA or a PCI?

And, does anyone know how to tell if a modem is a
'software' or 'hardware' modem?

Thanks, for any advice!
Jin

You have received a lot of good information about modems. If you
decide that you can spare a few dollars and your hardware will support
it, I would invest in a Lucent/Agere PCI Win modem. They can be had for
very little, and sometimes work very well when others do not.

As another poster stated, if you are a LONG way from the central
office, your problem is more likely to be the phone lines. Investing
$15 in order to see if there is hope may not be a bad investment.

 

[CBFalconer]

I live in a very rural area, and can only connect
to the internet via modem.
The connection here rarely ever goes over 28,800
(I have no other noise on the lines).

Can anyone tell me what kind of modem is better:
a ISA or a PCI?

And, does anyone know how to tell if a modem is a
'software' or 'hardware' modem?

There are no simple absolutes. However, if you get an external
modem, and connect to it with a serial port, you know you have a
hardware modem, and it is independant of your available slots.
All you need is a standard serial port.

 

[Bruin]

There are no simple absolutes. However, if you get an external
modem, and connect to it with a serial port, you know you have a
hardware modem, and it is independant of your available slots.
All you need is a standard serial port.

I vote for Chuck's opinion. Winmodems suck. External is the way to go
today.