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July 3
Many readers have asked for information about PCI modems,
USB modems, and modems that work with Windows NT 4, so I've
added a new page to the Link Board. PCI,
USB, and NT 4 Modems is the place to look for these
specialty modems. If you know of a modem that isn't listed,
you can add it to the page.
News.com
looks at problems in the modem industry, where poor sales
are hurting manufacturers.
I haven't gotten much feedback about the init string
(at+a8e=,,,0&w) that Shane Monroe suggested on
Wednesday, but Kurt Kruegel says that Livingston told him to
use the string not just for Motorola modems, but for any
Rockwell chipset modem having problems.
New V.90 modems and upgrades
Joshua Ang Chee Leng noticed that Motorola
now has V.90 upgrades for Australia, Denmark, France,
Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, South
Africa, Singapore, and Sweden.
Zoom
just released V.90 upgrades for the external model 2849. The
upgrade will also work with an external flash upgradeable
modem which has already been upgraded to K56flex. The
installer determines whether your ISP supports V.90 before
installing the upgrade. I'm also told that the installer
checks to see if your ISP uses Livingston Portmasters, which
do not currently support V.90 with Rockwell-based client
modems.
Todd Dulle spied Shark
Multimedia V.90 upgrades.
Bob Bell found V.90 upgrades for his Timedia
modem.
Kelly Long notes that Aztech is now shipping a V.90
version of the 56K
Turbo Modem.
July 1
The new poll for July is "How
fast (or slow) was your first modem?"
The poll question for June was "What technology do you
expect to use after 56K?" However, it seems to have been the
victim of voting fraud. Cable modems and DSL had been
running neck and neck, and the total number of votes had
been disappointingly low (less than 500 as I recall). When I
created the new poll this morning I noticed that the total
number of votes had suddenly shot up to more than 1200. When
I checked the results, cable modems had miraculously
garnered 82% of the votes. I've removed the fraudulent poll.
I've also changed the method of discouraging multiple
voting, but it's still primarily based on the honor system.
This is for fun and
information, folks. There's no point in cheating.
Logicode
Logicode went out of business in February, and shut down
their web site at the end of June. I'm sending Logicode a
proposal to distribute the last version of their drivers and
firmware updates from 56K.COM. Meanwhile, you can still get
technical support by calling 818-678-1850.
V.90 upgrades
Terry Traylor wrote to say that CPI
has pre-release V.90 upgrades for their Lucent-based modems.
CPI says that the pre-release code may not be as stable as
the previous K56flex version, and suggests downloading an
older K56flex firmware version just in case.
Steve Day notes 3Com's release of the V.90 upgrade for
the United
Kingdom Sportster Flash External.
Shane Monroe wrote in with a tip for Motorola V.90
VoiceSURFR users. I haven't tried it, but it can't do any
harm, and may work with ModemSURFRs as well:
With the Motorola VoiceSurfer series modems
(Rockwell chipsets), there is a little glitch with the
V90 upgrade. Once you perform the upgrade (and even if
you do the new INF drivers), you may start connecting to
your ISP at 28.8k, even though you both have V90.
Here is the trick. Go into the DEVICE MANAGER,
then MODEMS, then MOTOROLA VOICESURFER 56K MODEM. Go to
CONNECTION tab, then click the ADVANCED button. Under
EXTRA SETTINGS add this init string:
at+a8e=,,,0&w
You will now connect with full power of your
V90.
June 29
Rockwell plans to layoff workers in a restructuring move.
Estimates of the number of layoffs range from 3800
to 4800.
Most of the cuts will be in Rockwell's automation division.
3Com
is blaming a slow transition to V.90 for its poor quarterly
profits.
V.90 upgrades
Dynalink's
web site has V.90 upgrades.
Richard Monk notes that Motorola
now has Windows 95/98 .inf files for their V.90 modems. The
new .inf files will fix problems with the modem not
reporting the true connect speed.
All K56flex modems that are upgraded to V.90 will need
new .inf files to accurately report initial connect speed.
K56flex speeds are in increments of 2000 bps (40000, 42000,
etc.). V.90 (and x2) speeds are in increments of 1333 bps.
It's also worth noting that Windows 95 Dial-Up Networking
may lose track of the modem when the modem has been
upgraded. The fix is to open the Dial-Up Networking folder,
get properties on the connection icon, and reselect the
modem.
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