gof@pnet01.CTS.COM (Jerry Fountain) (08/19/87)
I noticed at a local store an External 2400 baud modem for a rather low price
($189). For an External I have not seen anything lower.
Has anyone used (or heard) of this unit? How is its noise tolerance?
-----Jerry Fountain-----
UUCP: {hplabs!hp-sdd,sdcsvax,nosc}!crash!pnet01!gof ARPA: crash!gof@nosc.mil
MAIL: 523 Glen Oaks Dr., Alpine, Calif. 92001 INET: gof@pnet01.CTS.COMmarc@pismo.cs.ucla.edu (Marc Kriguer) (08/24/87)
In article <1568@crash.CTS.COM> gof@pnet01.CTS.COM (Jerry Fountain) writes: >I noticed at a local store an External 2400 baud modem for a rather low price >($189). For an External I have not seen anything lower. > >Has anyone used (or heard) of this unit? How is its noise tolerance? I bought one a couple of months ago, for $199. It's a very good modem, with only two flaws that I have found: When you turn it on, it seems to have a little problem understanding the first couple of characters, so the first "AT" command is often ignored. Fix: Just have your software send out a dummy "AT <cr>" before any "real" commands. Problem #2: It tends to get very hot, after it's been on for several hours. It never seemed to degrade the performance, but it seemed a little too hot for me... if you have a fan, maybe you could put the modem in front of it. But, those two "problems" nonwithstanding, it has a few VERY nice features. It has an EPROM where you can store all your settings -- and the "ATZ" (reset) command will load YOUR settings, not the factory defaults. It also has a memory for an up-to-60-character phone number, which you program with AT&Z (phone number). Then all you do is "ATDS" for Dial Stored, and it dials for you. I have noticed about as much line noise (actually, slightly less) with this modem, as I noticed with my old Promodem 1200 -- at this point, I think the line noise is about as little as I have had since 300 baud. I don't know if it's due to the modem or not, so this last paragraph may be misleading -- I don't really know exactly how line noise works, and why it seems to be only a few characters at 2400 baud (while I was getting a LOT of noise at a time at 1200). Sorry to ramble... anyway, the Mitac is a very good modem, and at $189.00, a hard price to beat. Disclaimer: I have nothing to do with Mitac, other than owning one of their modems. _ _ _ Marc Kriguer / \/ \/ \ / / / __ ___ __ BITNET: REMARCK@UCLASSCF / / / / \ / / / ARPA: marc@pic.ucla.edu / / / \__/\_/ \_/\__/ UUCP: {backbones}!ucla-cs!pic.ucla.edu!marc
gof@pnet01.CTS.COM (Jerry Fountain) (08/25/87)
Well, I did get one on a hunch. It works fine so far. As for the problems:
1) I also noticed the delay in getting the first few characters. I just send
a few CR's first and then the setup string.
2) Heat. Yes, I noticed that as well. I was going to open it up and look for
the source ( the transformer is on the outside so it is a bit of a mystery).
But I figured that until the warrenty expires, It's their problem.
But as I mentioned before, it works fine. No noise so far as I have been able
to tell (It also has a nice, as yet untried, feature of being able to
're-equalize' the line WHILE ON-LINE).
-----Jerry Fountain-----
UUCP: {hplabs!hp-sdd,sdcsvax,nosc}!crash!pnet01!gof ARPA: crash!gof@nosc.mil
MAIL: 523 Glen Oaks Dr., Alpine, Calif. 92001 INET: gof@pnet01.CTS.COM