[comp.sys.mac] What's a good, cheap, 2400 baud modem

B.BSK@MACBETH.STANFORD.EDU (Brian Keller) (12/11/89)

rjudy@cs.umass.edu (WHEELS GO ROUND) writes:

>In article <17724@dartvax.Dartmouth.EDU>, isle@eleazar.dartmouth.edu
>(Ken Hancock) writes...
>>In article <7224@dime.cs.umass.edu> rjudy@cs.umass.edu (WHEELS GO ROUND)
>>writes:
>>>In article <875@pmafire.UUCP>, geoff@pmafire.UUCP (Geoff Allen) writes...
>>>>The subject really says it all.  Does anyone have any recommendations
>>>>for good, inexpensive 2400 baud modems?
>>>
>>>Whatever you do, DON'T buy Promethius.
>>
>>You know, it might be nice to justify statements like "DON'T buy
>>Promethius" with some valid reasons
>Ours rarely work at 2400 baud; they usually run at 1200 and when we
>asked them why, they said it was because the phone lines must
>be noisy in our area and that would kick them down to 1200...

After watching the discussion about Promethius modems, I remembered that
we had some Promethius modems at work for a while.  They were 1200 baud
modems, I believe, but they had the same problems as the 2400 baud
version judging by rjudy@cs.umass.edu's comments.  Our modems were connected
through local lines to other parts of the facility (i.e the lines are about
as good as you can get due to the short distance).  If Promethius modems
were left connected over lunch, they would print 40-50 noise characters
on the screen.  The Hayes modems would print 0-5 in the same time.  As a
result, the Promethius would get shoved off onto co-ops or summer employees
who had to suffer using the "cheap modems".

I have an Avatex 2400 modem for my personal use.  I got a great deal on it
from a local retailer; most likely, you could get it even cheaper than I
did through mail order.  It has excellent noise properties and I'm quite
happy with it.
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