Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!cca!mirror!sushi!campbell
From: campbell@sushi.UUCP (Larry Campbell)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.modems
Subject: Re: wanted to buy: a reliable modem
Message-ID: <453@sushi.UUCP>
Date: 18 Sep 88 04:45:49 GMT
References: <219100002@iapic.cvm.uiuc.edu>
Reply-To: campbell@sushi.UUCP (Larry Campbell)
Organization: The Boston Software Works, Inc.
Lines: 19

In article <219100002@iapic.cvm.uiuc.edu> mab@iapic.cvm.uiuc.edu writes:

}It seems that noone has experience with ZOOM modems.
}How about the Signalman Mark XII or the Volksmodem?
}I'm looking for an inexpensive (good quality) modem.

Avoid the Signalman Mark XII like the plague!  It is riddled with
bugs.  (1) It doesn't support RI (Ring Indicate).  (2) It doesn't
hang up when DTR drops.  This is a real killer -- your system could
be dialled in to, say, Mozambique or something, then crash -- and
you'd get a _whopper_ of a phone bill next month, because the modem
didn't hang up for days.  (3) It can't tolerate noisy phone lines.

Unfortunately, most of the PC-oriented low-cost modems are trash.
The one really good modem I have found in the low end market is the
Racal-Vadic 1200V.  It's not fancy, but it supports all the RS232
signals correctly, does well on noisy lines, and these days it should
be very inexpensive.  (I paid $200 apiece for them about three years
ago.)