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A Network Computing article, "Finding the Holy Grail of Modem Connectivity," discusses how V.34 and 56K modems work, and tells a cautionary tale of why upgradeability is so important.
TDK has unveiled the Global Pro ISDN 3600, the first PCMCIA card to feature PCS 1900 digital cellular technology. The card also has ISDN, a 33.6 modem, and full duplex speakerphone. The modem includes both U- and S/T-interfaces. TDK has a press release.
Birds of a feather? Hardware hacker Russell Smith got a surprise with his new modem:
Just thought I would pass this along. I just purchased a Cardinal Connecta X2, peeled off the Cardinal label on the back of the modem, and found it is a USR Sportster model 0460.
How much would you pay for more speed?
I'll be hosting the message boards for a few weeks over at Techweb's "Breaking the Speed Limit" page. This week's topic: money. There are a lot of high speed technologies around, and more coming down the pike, but how much are you willing to pay for a speed boost? Post your opinion!
Upgrade deadlines for July
Hayes July 31, 1997
Logicode July 31, 1997
Practical Peripherals July 31, 1997
Xircom July 31, 1997
Zoom July 31, 1996
U.S. Robotics has an excellent fourteen page x2 troubleshooting guide in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format. Discussed are the requirements for x2, possible impairments in the local phone loop, and a step-by-step troubleshooting procedure.
Motorola has a K56flex test line.
Techweb's "Breaking the Speed Limit" page has a story about bonding modems. Some companies are hot on the idea, but others remain cool.
A PC WEEK column mentions congestion at some cable modem companies.
Phylon Communications is licensing x2 technology from 3Com.
Upgrade fever
Ascend will provide free upgrades to the final ITU standard for its Series56 digital modem cards. Ascend has a press release.
Ascend has also extended its offer for K56flex upgrades for qualifying MAX and MAX TNT products to August 30, 1997.
Global Village is taking orders for x2 and K56flex upgrades for their Teleport 33.6 Internet edition for Macintosh. Upgrades are $99 plus $10 shipping for modems purchased after April 1, 1997. Upgrades for speakerphone editions are still in the works.
Survey results
The early results of the "How fast is your 56K modem" survey are in. Response was very good, though heavily dominated in number by U.S. Robotics owners. Click here to see the results, which are divided into separate pages by modem brand.The survey is ongoing, so take the survey and send in the results. We'd especially like to see more results from non-USR modems.
56K.COM is accepting new advertisers
There is now space for new advertisers on 56K.COM, the best site on the net to advertise high-speed Internet and remote access products and services, particularly those that have "56K" in the name. Read more about our rates and services on the new advertising page.
File name changes @ 56K.COM
The new banner rotation software installed this weekend uses server side includes (SSI), so it was necessary to rename all of the .htm pages to .shtml. If you have trouble getting to a page, try changing the .htm extension to .shtml. We also have a new custom error message for "404 File Not Found" errors, which you can see by clicking on this bogus link. (Unfortunately, Microsoft Internet Explorer hides custom error message from you, and instead puts up its own dialog box. Drat.)
Followups to U.S. Robotics problems
As reported on July 11, George Tempel had trouble with a USR Sportster 33.6, then had more trouble when it was upgraded to x2:
Conclusion to the USR Modem Madness Saga: they sent me a brand spanking new USR Sportster X2 modem, and it works. Read-up at http://www.monmouth.com/~ttempel/macs/pieces/usrmodems.html
Luiz Alvarez had trouble with the Sportster x2 Spiral Death Syndrome (July 11 news), in which his Sportster would connect at high speeds, but then get slower and slower, eventually dropping the connection. Based on some messages in the comp.dcom.modems newsgroup, I suggested he add S15=128 to the end of his modem init string to disable V.42 error correction. It worked for a number of people on comp.dcom.modems, and it worked for Luiz:
I added to the string on my modem S15=128 and I think it has fixed the problem. I was on the net for 3 hours last night and was not disconnected. This morning I've been so far connected for 2 hours and I'm still logged in.
Two out of three ain't bad? Way back on June 2, we published a letter from Robert Kay, who had ordered the Macintosh version of the U.S. Robotics Courier V.Everything. Every week he calls MacWarehouse, and each time he's told the modem will ship in a few weeks. As of today, Robert has been waiting 91 days for his modem.
56K.COM is written and maintained by Les Jones. Artwork by Mark Maxwell. Copyright 1997 Softwords.