RE: (ASCEND) USR 56K Winmodems V.90

["R. P. McCormick" <RPM@GCQ.net>]

Michael:

As Tim Basher also responded to you ...
Indeed we've seen this kind of behaviour with a lot
of different modems - many purportedly v.90 when in
fact they're either just v.90 ready (possibly running
X2 code) or an older release of the v.90 code.

Although in a few cases I've experienced what you
described (Max answers but on user's end all they
hear is long steady tone until it times out; 
Windows 9X never gets a chance - modems hang up)
with telco line quality and not the modem.

(One specific instance we brought two of our
own modems to the remote site and they all 
exhibited the same problem.  Solution was to
have the telephone company clean up the line,
which took many weeks and three attempts.)

As a general rule of thumb - would always suggest
that users ensure they've got the latest version
of v.90 firmware in their modems.  Sometimes that
is a pretty involved task, as outlined by Tim's
response.  Too bad USR with soooo many modems out
there can't have a easy way for both users
and ISP's to *quickly* find (and upgrade) modems.
Especially given the large number of USR OEM'ed units.

Lastly, if you have any control over it ...
(many people do not)  Not all modems are 
created equal (though they may be marketed
as such).

IMHO WinModems are *cheap* - and we find them
more troublesome than they're worth.  In the
3Com USR product line, here's our order of
preference:

  Courier v.everything
  Sportster data/fax
  Sportster voice
  WinModem

And we do everything possible to ensure we don't
have to deal with winmodems: most major computer 
vendors that OEM USR products will give you
an uplift to a Sportster (for example, from Micron
it is about $20) if the winmodem is the standard beast.

Hope this helps.
Bob McCormick

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