I have to buy one of these things and the only real specification is that it must be V.90 compliant. Does anyone here have any suggestions for a good, hardware based dialup modem? Are there any I should avoid?
make sure to buy a hardware modem -- if you can afford it, why not? it could save you some driver headaches, and it'll be more stable. I'm a fan of the 3coms . . .
I went down to Fry's to get a dial-up V.92 and with the rebate the cost was exactly $0.00 --it was $10 before the rebate. Its the cheapest one they sell, but it works great connects at a blistering 54,666 bps everytime. I wouldn't waste money on an expensive dial-up modem they all work exactly the same. Make sure you get a V.92 in case your provider ever offers call waiting and all the new stuff V.92 provide- V.92's have a faster compression rate as well (whatever that means). Installing it and the driver was very easy. For the high speed smart-ass I must let you know my ISP is $8.00 a month. When I can pay $20 a month for high speed I will sign up, $50 bucks a month is just silly in my opinion. I know there are specials right now, but it still goes up to $49.99 after 6 month or so...
Since I love kicking a man when he's down... I would say that the only good dialup modem is one that comes with a loaded revolver so you can play Russian Roulette while you wait hours for that mp3 or movie to load. Earthlink is $40 a month - and mine was $30 a month for the first 6 months. I bet you have a cell phone, right? Give up the land line, go all cell and get Earthlink. Landline cost: $20-40 + dialup $8 = $28 - $48. Man up and get a real internet connection.
I currently have DSL. However, I will be cancelling it when I go away to basic. I will be buying a block of dial-up hours to use when I come home for vacations and whatnot, and I want to get it straightened away before I leave. That's why I want a dial-up modem, and that's why teasing me about not having high speed is ineffective. Are there any good sites out there that review modems at least?
those cheapass modems you get for under 15 bucks are controller-less modesm(software) and they depend on Windows to do their thinking for them. fade asked about hardware modems....there IS a difference. fadeaway, go with the 3coms or a zoom. I have had great luck with both brands when setting up some other people's machines that dont have high speed. sure, they cost a few bucks more...but work sooo much better.
fadeaway, you wanna come over later and play some Snakebyte on my Apple IIE? j/k...I have dial up access, but it's free, so I'm not complaining...
