Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!decwrl!sun!imagen!atari!portal!cup.portal.com!thad From: thad@cup.portal.com Newsgroups: comp.dcom.modems Subject: Re: wanted to buy: a reliable modem Message-ID: <9261@cup.portal.com> Date: 19 Sep 88 09:51:17 GMT References: <219100002@iapic.cvm.uiuc.edu> <6505@dasys1.UUCP> Organization: The Portal System (TM) Lines: 57 XPortal-User-Id: 1.1001.2826 Whoa! Someone just mentioned Practical Peripherals' modems. A customer of mine attempted to use those with a "special" dialback unit I manufacture, and it became very clear very quickly that modem is "Hayes"(tm) compatible ONLY in that it recognizes "Hayes" commands. It does NOT function as does a Hayes (and other fine modems) when one wishes full modem control (via DTR). This "problem" is symptomatic of MANY what I call "toy" modems. To be fair, the modem DOES function fine AS A MODEM. It is NOT "compatible" re: its operation re: DTR, DSR and DCD and re-init'ing to a known state. After many years in this business, it's clear there are three types of modems one can find: 1. industrial quality. solid, dependable, reliable, consistent. 2. consumer quality. not designed for 24 hrs/day use, but otherwise generally reliable and "compatible" with de facto ACU protocols 3. pure shit (sorry if use of this word offends, but even I (for whom most callers to my BBS and other services must consult dictionaries to fathom the meaning of words I use) cannot conjure up a better description! :-) These categories are "generally" delimited by price, but I've seen some excellent modems (2400 baud) under $200, and I've seen junk at $400-$500. Over the past 5 years I've managed to test some 200+ different modems with my products. Most modems perform acceptably, but there are some that do not. There was even a CTS 2424ADH that did "weird" things with the DSR and DCD signals after one would drop DTR. In MY opinion, the Signalman modems fall into category 3 (above). Again, in MY opinion, I'm surprised the FTC hasn't stepped in to stop all the bogus claims of "Hayes (tm) compatibility. I'd hoped the marketplace would weed out the irregulars, but such is not happening. I'm all for LESS government regulation, etc., but perhaps SOMEONE should come to the aid of the consumer (like the FTC did re: consumer audio amplifier power ratings and FM receiver sensitivity about a decade ago). I throw junk (both hardware and software (disks)) out the window and over the fence. My fence collapsed last year! :-) Thad Floryan [thad@cup.portal.com (OR) ...!sun!portal!cup.portal.com!thad] P.S. My neighbor chipped in 50-50 for a new fence. 'Spose he found a use for all the "junk". :-)