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56k modem FTP download test
Brand and model of modem: SupraExpress56e
Initial connect speed: 44000
FTP transfer rate: 4,663 bytes/sec
-- Ben Wachtel November 29, 1997
Connect speeds: 40,000 to 44,000 bps
Download test via FTP with WS_ftp32 at 11:30 AM on Saturday,West Coast USA from the FTP site of my ISP(Alternate Access)
Download: Zip file consisiting of 1,296,512 bytes in 261.5 secs, (4.84 Kbytes/sec)
Initially my modem was a 56i Voice. Connection to an ISP offering KFlex was horrible. Initial connect speeds of 28,000 bps were the norm. Downloads from the internet were extremely slow and I had better speed with my old ISP which wasn't Kflex!! I sent Diamond my modem version and date of manufacture and it turns out i had one of the non-upgradeable chipsets. I sent them my "faulty" modem and convinced them to send me a 56i-Speakerphone in its place. Although they wouldn't exchange it initially, i ended up paying the difference.
I am now consistently connecting at 44,000 bps. I did add the following initialization string as recommended by their tech help: &F2S202=32S10=60W2. But that is for login into internet gaming which sometimes is different than regular internet connections as far as compression and other parameters. I also downloaded the program MTUSpeed which is supposed to optimize internet connections.
-- Abel P. November 15, 1997
Connect speeds: 40,000 to 46,000.
Upload/download test via FTP with ISP shell using WS_FTP95LE 4.01 at 6AM EDT on a Saturday.
Downloads:
589K .zip file 4.22 KBytes per sec 317K .exe file 8.03 KBytes per sec
Uploads:
589K .zip file 2.80 KBytes per sec 317K .exe file 5.95 KBytes per sec
Initially experienced disconnects during the evening "crunch" time. A flash firmware upgrade from .519 to 1.000-03 appears to have corrected this problem.
The audio portion of this modem probably has the poorest fidelity than the dozen or so internal or external modems that I have had experience with; extremely "tinny". This is considered to be a very, very minor fault.
Like most software/hardware today, it comes with just enough documentation to get you started. An accompanying CD-ROM provides full documention. The printed manual(s) are available from the manufacturer for a S/H fee of $4.95.
At a price of $89.99 ( after two rebates, before tax) from my local CompUSA store, this is a tremendous buy.
-- Larry Gregory October 25, 1997
I am using the SupraExpress 56e modem for Mac. I'm also using the 0.519 version of the firmware. The newer version slowed my connection. When I FTP compressed material, I consistently get >5 K/sec. I almost always connect at 50 Kbps (actually, to date, I have not connected at anything lower). It is a K56flex modem (I put this here because it says to).
-- Derik DeLong October 7, 1997
I run a Diamond Supra Express 56k(i) SP, with the latest 1.003 firmware and the newest Win95 drivers. Through a local ISP in Kansas City, Missouri I am able to get consistent, reliable connections at 44000bps. About every 5 connections I only connect at 40000bps.
On a 44k connection, I consistently get FTP transfer rates of 4.00kb/sec (with occasional spikes to 5kb/sec) on compressed files (i.e., ZIP, etc.).
I tried changing my Ini string to include "AT&FS202=32" and "S95=1" per Bob Nixon's post on this survey. This resulted in apparently faster, more reliable connections. However, I get false connect reports thru Win95 of 115.2k. I am only able to determine my true connect speed by going into Hyperterminal after logoff and checking AT&V1. Anyone know how to fix this? (Try adding W2 to the init string. - Les)
Overall I am happy with my Supra Express, I am anxiously awaiting the next firmware revision from Diamond--anyone know its ETA?
-- Jason Fletes October 5, 1997
This story truly shows what a difference a phone line can make.
My modem is a Diamond SupraExpress 56ki running the 1.0003 firmware; my ISP is also at V1 of KFlex. Up until last Tuesday I was using my 2nd line (Business phone/fax) as my modem line; the phone company was very tardy in getting my 3rd line installed. We live in an older neighborhood in Seattle and the phone lines have had everything imaginable done to them - not modem friendly.
For testing purposes, I would connect to IPSwitch's FTP site and download WS_FTP32.ZIP, which is slightly over 666k in size.
My best consistent connection on the 2nd phone line was 28.8k. My download time was averaging 203 seconds at a rate of 3.2k/second.
After incessant pounding the phone company finally got my 3rd lineinstalled. The tech stated that it was a new circuit and I shouldn't have to worry about it being split down the road.
Amazing results! My consistent connection is now 44k!! My download time is now averaging 154 seconds at 4.2k/second!!! Here's hoping the line stays stable...
Early on I called my ISP with my 'old' speeds and they told me they their tests showed a difference between the internal and external Diamond modems;they can't convince me of that now. Good solid modem at either speed but great under Kflex.
-- Steve Fredrickson October 2nd, 1997
I'm seeing connect rates @40,000/21600 95% of the time. Download speeds are 4.4-4.5 K btyes/second consistently with a PPP connection and zip test files.
Modem is SupraExpress 56 SP and 1.003a firmware I had to ad (AT&FS202=32) to in int. string to get it to work. I later added S95=1 to get the modem to report DCE connect speed.
I also tried a USR Courier during a three month period (may-aug97) and got maybe a half dozen reliable connections @(33333-37333) from this line. The courier later worked fine from a "cleaner" phone line at >50,000, in another part of the Phoenix Metro. area.
The Supra's DTE throttling is at ~11Kbyes/second (same as v.34) as Priment-GC's Ascend routers do not or are not configured to use MS-Stac level 4 Software compression and my external Supra modem is limited to 115200 DTE and not 230400 as some internal 56Kmodem are.
The improvement is ~a 30% improvement over V.34+ @31200 connections at 3.4-3.5K bytes/ second. Connections have been very solid with maybe 2-3 out of 100 dropped connection or about the same as V.34.
-- Bob Nixon September 19, 1997
Diamond Supra 56K modem talking to a Livingston Portmaster running ComOS 3.7.1 gts 48000 consistently.
FTP transfer rate for a .gz file of 4.2Kbytes/sec
ISP is meer.net, Mountain View California.
-- John Giannandrea September 19, 1997
Supra Express 56 connects to my termserver at 44000 on lines that usually yield a 28800-31200 V.34 connection, 4755cps zmodem download speed on average. Downloading via ftp shows 4.6K/s on the same file via CuteFTP, and I downloaded MSIE at 4.5K/s as reported by Netscape 3.02.
Personal opinion? 4.5K/s is better than 3.1K/s (45% faster), and if the DSP code improves over time, so much the better. Either way, if I were a modem user, I'd jump on this.
Using this code from http://beta.supra.com/ (flash56.exe)
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 535 Aug 8 09:21 changes.txt* -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 27492 Aug 8 09:21 mdmsup56.inf* -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 756192 Aug 8 09:21 flash56b.exe* -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 3124 Aug 8 09:21 readme.txt* -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2911 Aug 8 09:21 supwav56.inf*
here's what my registers report:
ati3i4i5i6i7i9i10i92
V1.000-03-K56_DLS
SupraExpress 56e - PC
Built: July 18 1997 15:37:41
a007040CA879CE02F
bC60000000
r1005111151112004
r100511115111200
-- Jason Buchanan August 26, 1997
Hello,
I have a Diamond Supra 56k express internal with speaker phone. This is a good one with firmware version 0.519. When I connect to my ISP (In Reach) in Santa Monica, I can get 48k connection consistenly and I can see a 5.0k per second for compressed.
-- Ho Wai Tung August 19, 1997
I have Diamond SupraExpress 56i k56flex and downloaded a 264747 byte ZIP file at 1:30am eastern.
It took WS_FTP95LE for Win95/NT 115.3 seconds (2.24KBps) to download. My ISP is Fastnet (http://www.fast.net) and my phone company is the root of all evil (GTE).
I connect at 24000 or 26400 and am lucky to download any given single file between 0.5k & 2.5k per second (Netscape 3.0).
Actually, my connection is slower AFTER the switch to 56k. It takes between 20-30 seconds from POP pickup to Logon screen becomes active!!! ISP says that's because GTE has poor lines and modem drops to v.34. ISP said k56flex/X2 are supposed to make up for poor phone lines. Needless to say, it has become quite upsetting to see people connect 40-50k when I'm still trying to get to 33.6. I've already tried the init string AT&F2W2 and it didn't help but any other help would be greatly appreciated!!!!!
-- Lee Sanders
(This may be one of the early Supras with the defective Rockwell chipsets. Newer Supras seem to be OK, and you can call Diamond Multimedia for a replacement if you have one of the early units. - Leslie)
