modems

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Gert Doering wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> Mate Wierdl wrote:
> > You may get Zyxel modems from Computer Discount Warehouse:
> > 
> >  http://www.cdw.com/
> > 
> > So there are no recommendations under $150, say? The cheapest zyxel
> > on that site is over $350 bucks! 
> 
> Well, either you get some cheap crap, and pay with wasted time, or you get
        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> a decent modem. (But get a ZyXEL 1496, not an 2864 - the 1496 will work
> better and cost less).

Paying with wasted time is something that everyone should keep in mind. I
have a Supra 336i Sp (Rockwell based) which I paid 129$ for. I have "spent"
well over that in my own wasted time as well as that of others (Marc
Eberhard's time, in particular). I am very fotunate that so far I have not
lost data. My machine (Linux 2.0.30 SMP) has been up for 2.5 days now. That
is the longest it has been up for several weeks. Occassionally when I would
get phone calls, the machine would freeze up or it would reboot. Both cases
required a complete shutdown. You can imagine the frustration in hearing
your phone ring and watching your workstation reboot without syncing the
disks. I am not sure I have fixed this problem, but I am hoping that
disabling Caller-Id (removeing #CID=1 initialization) has done the trick
(knock, knock).

Besides having this special "reboot-upon-incoming-call" feature, 
note that since my modem is Rockwell, it does only Class 1 
faxing which is not compatible with mgetty. Also, I found that the 
machine does not recognize when another modem is calling, so I have 
to use the "rec_min_len" option. I had to increase the time that 
mgetty waits between rings (could be our phone system). This modem
still occasionally does not stop recording. My logfile is stuffed 
with Rockjunk:

04/23 17:41:36 yS2 Rockwell: AT#VBS=2
04/23 17:41:36 yS2 Rockwell: OK
04/23 17:41:36 yS2 vgetty: queued event 0x4000 at position 0008
04/23 17:41:36 yS2 vgetty: unqueued event 0x4000 at position 0000
04/23 17:41:36 yS2 vgetty: voice_handle_event got event 0x4000 with data <
04/23 17:41:36 yS2 vgetty: unqueued event 0x4000 at position 0001
04/23 17:41:36 yS2 vgetty: voice_handle_event got event 0x4000 with data <_>
04/23 17:41:36 yS2 vgetty: unqueued event 0x2007 at position 0002
[]
04/23 17:41:36 yS2 vgetty: <DATA 180 bytes>
04/23 17:41:36 yS2 vgetty: <DATA 180 bytes>
04/23 17:41:36 yS2 vgetty: queued event 0x4000 at position 0009
04/23 17:41:36 yS2 vgetty: <DATA 180 bytes>
04/23 17:41:36 yS2 vgetty: unqueued event 0x4000 at position 0009
[]
04/23 17:42:01 yS2 Rockwell: <DATA 180 bytes>
04/23 17:42:01 yS2 Rockwell: <DATA 180 bytes>
04/23 17:42:01 yS2 vgetty: queued event 0x4000 at position 0032
04/23 17:42:02 yS2 Rockwell: <DATA 180 bytes>
04/23 17:42:02 yS2 vgetty: unqueued event 0x4000 at position 0032
04/23 17:42:02 yS2 vgetty: voice_handle_event got event 0x4000 with data <_>
04/23 17:42:02 yS2 Rockwell: <DATA 180 bytes>
04/23 17:42:02 yS2 Rockwell: <DATA 179 bytes>


The system is relatively stable now, but I sure have paid 
the price. Buy a good modem and *rest* assured that it was 
money well spent.


> 
> > This is more than my whole 486/SX/25
> > system at home is worth! What if I just want to have data transfer
> > (no fax). 
> 
> For "data only", I recommend Telebit Fastblazer or USR Courier. Don't go
> for a $100 modem. It's not worth it.

I think there are a fair number of people out there who have access 
to a fax machine but would like to do "data and voice" 
only. Is there any consensus on which non-Zyxel modem is best? 

Tschuess, 

mark


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