chip@t4test.UUCP (05/03/84)
Thought I'd pass along our experience with Hayes.....
We bought half a dozen Smartmodem 1200's about six months ago.
A couple of them crapped out recently. My guess is that either
they succumbed to infant mortality, or they were bounced off the
walls a bit during our last office move.
In any case, they were sent back to Hayes for warranty repair.
We got working modems back in about a week and a half--no mess,
no fuss. Call me a satisfied customer.
Speaking of AST, I'll add my "aye" vote. We have had no complaints
about the features or performance of the SixPacPlus card or the
freebee software which comes with it.
--
--------Chip Rosenthal, Intel/Santa Clara
GNUS: {pur-ee|hplabs|ucbvax!amd70|ogcvax!omsvax}!intelca!t4test!{chip|news}
MAYUL: {intelca|icalqa|qubix|idi}!t4test!{chip|news}gef@invest.UUCP (Gene E. Fowler) (05/07/84)
[eat it] I second Chip's vote of confidence on Hayes' customer support. My 2-1/2 year old SmartModem 300 developed a temperature sensativity a few months ago. I located the bad chip myself but could not easily find a local replacement. I called Hayes and asked about repairs costs. They said send it back and there would be no charge even though the two year warranty had expired. It was returned in 1-1/2 weeks with a half dozen chips changed including new firmware and installation of a daughter board where one chip used to be. The modem nolonger has the flacky problems that could only be cleared by power cycling. I had been bad-mouthing Hayes all the time without ever calling and complaining. Even though they initially put out a bad product, they are good about correcting their errors. Gene Fowler ihnp4!invest!gef
perl@rdin.UUCP (05/09/84)
<> We bought a US Robotics modem which was supposed to be a Hayes "look-alike". Well, let me tell you, looks is about all it had going for it! It arrived without instructions and the guy I talked to on the phone to get an explanation of how to use it sounded like he had never used a modem before! Not only does it not understand most of the Hayes commands, the one we had wouldn't even execute the ones it was supposed to be able to! After trying two of these, we sent it back and got another popular modem, the Novation CAT. Everything looked good until I noticed that it had no command for dialing the phone. It expected you to pulse one of the RS-232 pins to generate the dial pulses! Who does this? So we finally went and got a Hayes Smartmodem 1200. We've been using it for over a year and it hasn't failed once. Robert Perlberg Resource Dynamics Inc. New York philabs!rdin!perl
fair@dual.UUCP (Erik E. Fair) (05/12/84)
From: perl@rdin.UUCP
Subject: Re: Hayes Customer Support
Date: Wed, 9-May-84 07:08:12 PDT
Organization: Resource Dynamics Inc., New York
We bought a US Robotics modem which was supposed to be a Hayes
"look-alike". Well, let me tell you, looks is about all it had
going for it! It arrived without instructions and the guy I
talked to on the phone to get an explanation of how to use it
sounded like he had never used a modem before! Not only does
it not understand most of the Hayes commands, the one we had
wouldn't even execute the ones it was supposed to be able to!
I have had a U.S. Robotics AD212 Autodialing modem as our main system
dialer for over a year. It came with more than adequate instructions,
and I configured the UUCP software to dial it. It has worked
faithfully, for this entire period, barring a couple of power outages.
I've never called their customer support dept. so I have no way of
knowing if this story is typical. What should be noted is that neither
the modem nor the manual ever gave me cause to call their customer
service department, which is as it should be.
After trying two of these, we sent it back and got another popular
modem, the Novation CAT. Everything looked good until I noticed
that it had no command for dialing the phone. It expected you
to pulse one of the RS-232 pins to generate the dial pulses!
Who does this?
The Novation SmartCAT seems to be anything but, if you can believe the
documentation. I have not as yet evaluated one.
So we finally went and got a Hayes Smartmodem
1200. We've been using it for over a year and it hasn't failed
once.
The Hayes Smartmodem 1200 is reputed to be a very good modem. It's a pity
they're not price competitive.
Robert Perlberg
Resource Dynamics Inc.
New York
philabs!rdin!perl
I'm very happy with the USR AD212.
Erik E. Fair ucbvax!fair fair@ucb-arpa.ARPA
dual!fair@Berkeley.ARPA
{ihnp4,ucbvax,cbosgd,decwrl,amd70,fortune,zehntel}!dual!fair
Dual Systems Corporation, Berkeley, California
P.S. Neither I nor DUAL is associated with USR in any way, other than
in that we have purchased and are satisfied with their product.
The opinions expressed above are soley mine.bbanerje@sjuvax.UUCP (B. Banerjee) (05/15/84)
>> After trying two of these, we sent it back and got another popular >> modem, the Novation CAT. Everything looked good until I noticed >> that it had no command for dialing the phone. It expected you >> to pulse one of the RS-232 pins to generate the dial pulses! >> Who does this? So we finally went and got a Hayes Smartmodem >> 1200. We've been using it for over a year and it hasn't failed >> once. Yes, remember it well. When we were first trying to get uucp going, I was frantically going through the UN*X documentation trying to figure out exactly *how* one pulsed RS-232 pins. Finally this modem was delegated to hand connection from home type uses, and we acquired a Hayes. BTW, I'm still curious as to how one could pulse one of the RS-232 pins from within UN*X. Please reply by mail if you have any ideas. -- Binayak Banerjee {allegra | astrovax | bpa | burdvax}!sjuvax!bbanerje P.S. Send Flames, I love mail.
hans@log-hb.UUCP (05/18/84)
>> After trying two of these, we sent it back and got another popular >> modem, the Novation CAT. Everything looked good until I noticed >> that it had no command for dialing the phone. It expected you >> to pulse one of the RS-232 pins to generate the dial pulses! >> Who does this? So we finally went and got a Hayes Smartmodem >> 1200. We've been using it for over a year and it hasn't failed >> once. Yes, remember it well. When we were first trying to get uucp going, I was frantically going through the UN*X documentation trying to figure out exactly *how* one pulsed RS-232 pins. Finally this modem was delegated to hand connection from home type uses, and we acquired a Hayes. BTW, I'm still curious as to how one could pulse one of the RS-232 pins from within UN*X. Please reply by mail if you have any ideas. -- Binayak Banerjee {allegra | astrovax | bpa | burdvax}!sjuvax!bbanerje P.S. Send Flames, I love mail. -- {decvax,philabs}!mcvax!enea!log-hb!hans Hans Albertsson, TeleLOGIC AB Box 1001, S-14901 Nynashamn, SWEDEN