nather@utastro.UUCP (Ed Nather) (05/16/84)
<>
I have quite a low opinion of the Hayes which would would be more
appropriately named the Dumbmodem.
First: Low quality hardware.
Hmm. Mine has worked perfectly from day 1, despite being dropped on the
floor twice.
Second: Why it should be called DumbModem:
This modem knows nothing about the telephone network except
on hook/off hook and carrier received.
Gary Samad
decvax!genrad!mit-eddie!gary
Untrue. It knows about both pulse and tone dialing.
Ah, impetuous youth! You are unhappy because the modem won't do everything
you would like it to do. True -- but I am still using an old Ven Tel that
can't dial at all, and only answers the phone when the phase of the moon is
right. I also have, covered with dust, an acoustic modem that never heard
of 1200 baud or modular plugs, to say nothing of dialing or answering the
phone. It went '%$#&*' whenever the dog barked.
Perhaps Hayes doesn't make the Ultimate Modem (Say! A name to conjure with ...)
but the 1200 external is pretty good, it works on lines my Ven Tel won't,
and I can reset it without unplugging it from the wall. It also DIALS which
is very nice. Now, if you want to improve the state of the art (without
raising the price, of course) it would be nice if the modem recognized dial
tones (of all varieties), busy signals (of all varieties) and the SNAP - POP -
crackle of a noisy line, so it could re-dial.
Methinks he doth protest too much.
--
Ed Nather
ihnp4!{ut-sally,kpno}!utastro!nather
Astronomy Dept., U. of Texas, Austin