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The likely approval of a draft international 56K standard at the January 26 - February 6 ITU meeting in Geneva is keeping PR departments busy. Modem companies are chiming in their support for a standard, and giving clues about their schedules for releasing standards-based modems and upgrades. Press releases have been issued by Ascend, Cirrus Logic, Diamond Multimedia, Global Village, and Multi-Tech.
PC Computing recently handed out its 1997 MVP awards. The 3Com Sportster 56K Voice Faxmodem won the modem category, with Diamond Multimedia and Practical Peripherals as runners up.
PC Magazine's 1997 Technical Excellence Awards had separate categories for x2 and K56flex modems, though I'll be darned if I can find either in the online version. The x2 3Com Sportster 56K Faxmodem and K56flex Diamond Multimedia Express 56i SP were the winners. @Home, a national cable modem company, received a Technical Excellence Award in the communications category.
The Internet Weather Report is an interesting look at connectivity between ISPs and national networks. Congestion on the Internet has a significant effect on download times and web page loading time, no matter how fast your modem may be.
Compaq 56K Upgrades
Compaq's K56flex upgrade page has free 56K software upgrades for the desktop Presario 4532, 4808, 4814, 4816, 4824, 4834, 4840, 4850, and the portable Presario 1610, 1620 and 1680.
There are paid hardware upgrades available for the Compaq Presario 2200, 2220, 4504, 4508, and 4528. These upgrades consist of a daughter card that attaches to the existing modem in order to provide K56flex functionality. Customers can get more information or purchase the daughter card upgrade by calling 1-800-888-0220.
A draft international 56K standard is possible at the beginning of February (see December 7 news). The next question is when might the standards-based modems ship. I'd be interested to hear from modem manufacturers on this subject. I asked Ken Krechmer of Communications Standards Review for his best estimate:
I expect that we will see early V.pcm modems (which will be given a number and become V.xx) within days after the end of the ITU Study Group meeting Feb 6, 1998. It is likely that these early versions will need to have some "bug fixes" so I expect final versions from vendors between April and June 1998.
LAN Times has a review of nine K56flex PCMCIA card modems from ActionTec, Compaq, E-Tech, Global Village, Intel, Multi-Tech, Viking, Xircom, and Zoom, plus a separate Megahertz review. These latest reviews have been added to the Buyer's Guide and Reviews page.
Jim Carr of the L.A. Times notes that Hayes has posted Accura 56K AT commands on their web site. For manuals and AT commands for other modems, see the Free Modem Manuals page.
Livingston PortMaster 3 news
Doug McClure, a network engineer for InfiNet, writes:
I just wanted to offer to you a few useful pieces of information. First, LE [Livingston Enterprises] is now endorsing Zoom K56flex modems for users connecting to the PM3. It might be useful to put a blurb on your site mentioning that users of ISP's that have PM3's might want to consider Zoom modems.Another piece of information regarding analog MP ("bonding") is that the PM3 will support this in the future revision of its ComOS (3.8) operating code. There isn't a need for a special modem like the Shotgun modem or Boca's modem. You'll be able to connect multiple (not just 2) modems (K56flex, 33.6, 28.8, etc.) to the PM3 without anything other than Win95 DUN 1.2b or WinNT RAS. No special programs or hardware is required. I hate to see users buying a new special modem that does this or that and not really needing it. Again, it's best for the user to find out what their ISP uses before buying any modem.
In other news, Livingston announced RADIUS support for the PortMasters and reduced PortMaster prices.
Ken Krechmer of Communications Standards Review is reporting major progress at the Orlando ITU conference towards a draft international 56K standard. It appears that a draft will likely be approved at the January 26 - February 6 meeting in Geneva, with final approval at the September meeting. However, hopes for a standard last September were similarly optimistic. The safest bet is to make purchase plans as if a standard were not imminent.
Internetnews.com reports that Nortel has announced "Internet call waiting" to allow Internet users to be informed of incoming phone calls. Support from the telephone company or ISP will be necessary. The software-based technology can then terminate the Internet connection. In the future, the user may be able to use Internet telephony software to route the call through the computer.
Alexander Kolodziej noticed that Motorola now has Australian firmware updates for the ModemSURFR and VoiceSURFR. Firmware for many other countries is available from the same page.
U.S. Robotics now has UK Winmodem 56K upgrades, plus upgrades for the UK versions of other USR modems.
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56K.COM is written and maintained by Les Jones. Artwork by Mark Maxwell.