wtm@neoucom.UUCP (Bill Mayhew) (08/02/86)
[[[Watt's my line]]] I'm an EE, so I must have had my US Robotics 1200 baud "Express" modem for about 5 minutes at least, before I came to and found that I was prying the cover off (the plastic shells snap together). I was moderately impressed that USR had done a pretty nice job of putting the thing together. All the components that are improtant to stability are 5% tolerence or better. There is also extensive use of CMOS circuitry to keep power consumption down. The built-in dialing directory and call-progress monitoring are quite handy. I like the USR as well as the older Hayes Smart modem and better than the new Smart Modem (the ones without volume control). I've used the USR with a bbs that wants a "genuine" Smart Modem on my home pee-cee and haven't had any ususual noise and no problems. Of course, the 2400 baud beast might be an import from Antarctica or something, and thus be terrible. If the same manufacturing care is used for the 2400 baud model, I'd guess that it would be very reliable (provided that it is not a DOA). Bill Mayhew NEOUCOM Rootstown, OH wtm@neoucom (...!allegra!neoucom!wtm should work)
sandersr@ecn-pc.UUCP (Robert C Sanders) (08/03/86)
[...] I don't remember the details, but Computers And Electronics Magazine (the old Popular Electronics), in the last year before their demise, published an article reviewing all of the then-new 2400 baud, and several 1200 baud modems. After extensive testing (including the author calling from various hotel-room phones), the author concluded that at the time, The USR Courier was the best overall, but the Hayes 2400 was better in cutting through extremely noisy environments. In the 1200s, The Hayes stood out (the older one), but the USR Password beat all of the other competition by a long shot. Like I said, I don't remember the issue or the name of the article, but it had a lot of insight at the time. Check in your favorite library -- C & E only lasted for a couple of years. -- Continuing Engineering Education Telecommunications Purdue University ...!ihnp4!pur-ee!pc-ecn!sandersr Let's make like a BSD process, and go FORK-OFF !! -- bob (and "make" a few children while we're at it ...)