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My web host provider tells me that the server problems last Thursday were due to a hard drive failure. - Leslie
PC World has coverage of this week's ITU meeting, which was supposed to result in a draft of an international 56K modem standard. Patent issues are still at the heart of the delays.
IBM has announced a unit that allows laptop users to roam more than 200 feet from a telephone jack, according to PC World. The device works with your laptop's existing PC card modem.
CNET has reviews of twenty-three 56K modems.
Firmware news
Some of the K56flex 1.0 firmware can cause a problem in which the modem won't connect at speeds higher than 33.6, even though the modem connected at K56flex speeds prior to the firmware update. Adding S202=32 to the init string cures the problem. According to Tom Hanson of Zoom technical support:
The command disables dual pcm detection. i.e. it won't look for how many analog to digital connections are on your phone line. This is a bug in 1.0x code. It was fixed in 1.1 maybe 1.09 but I'm not sure.
Gideon Kaempfer reports that Telalink also has the Motorola 1.009 firmware update. MCSNet is the other major net location of the software, which is also available on Motorola's US and UK BBSes.
On Wednesday I reported that Boca had 1.009 updates on their 56K firmware page. However, the FTP URLs on Boca's page don't work. The fix is to change the URLs from "ftp.bocaresearch.com" to "ftp.boca.org".
Zoom has announced free upgrades to the final ITU 56K standard for their 56K modems purchased in the US and Canada. Should a software upgrade turn out to be impossible, Zoom is promising hardware upgrades for a maximum of $19, which includes shipping. Click here for a list of other companies that have committed to free upgrades.
WolrdCom and AOL are buying CompuServe from H&R block. As part of the deal, AOL will get CompuServe's customers, while WorldCom will get AOL's ANS division. AOL will operate CompuServe as a separate business unit with separate software. The big news is that AOL will add 3 million customers, while WorldCom becomes one of the biggest players in the backbone service. Inter@ctive Week, The Washington Post, and ZDNet have stories.
Wired has an interesting story about 3Com's exclusive license to any patents issued to Robert Townshend, who claims to have patented the basic technology necessary for 56K modems.
Brian Morrison and William Smith note that the Motorola UK BBS (01293 428490) now has the 1.0 firmware. It's also available on Motorola's US BBS, and at MCSNet.
L.F. Crabtree found an offer to upgrade Acer modems at Taicom's page.
Sonnet has an Always On/Dynamic ISDN page.
Firmware notes
Ken Jaegar notes that Boca Research has 1.009 firmware upgrades for all of its K56flex modems.
Add Dave Lance to the list of happy campers after getting a K56flex 1.0 firmware update:
Great job guys. I bought a Motorola modemsurfer 56 2 weeks ago. After rewiring house and everything I still never connected at anything above 28800, but today you had a link to the beta of the new flash upgrade. I tried it and my first connect is at 40000. Great job ! Thanks much.
Several readers with Hayes' beta 1.002 firmware have not been so happy. Well, that's why they call it beta, I guess.
56K.COM is written and maintained by Les Jones. Artwork by Mark Maxwell. Copyright 1997 Softwords.
