SG Broadband Community

hi,

I am going to buy a modem but i don't know what to get!! i want to connect at about 50,000. If anyone has a modem and you connect at these speeds, please give me info!!The 3com performance pro modem costs 109$ canadian. Is it worth it?
Thanks,
War_Demon

well, in my opinion (as well as others as well), 3com makes the best analogue modems you can buy. not that other are bad, mind you, but 3com will usually offer you the best/most consistant performance.

there is one problem...... your connection speed with a dialup modem is, to a certain degree, determined by your distance to the telco office (muck like dsl is), as well as the quality of your lines. if you live far away from the telco's office, you may not be able to connect at a really fast speed. i live less than 1000' (physically) from my local telco office, and i could connect at 50,666bps most of the time (i had a USRobotics/3com ISA 56K modem at the time). even with the best modem on the market in your comp, the limitation may be determined by distance/line quality, rather than the modem quality.

in all honesty, though, you cant go wrong with a 3com modem. at least you will know you are probably getting the fastest connection speed possible in your case.

hope this helps

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"Those who do not acknowlege the past are condemned to relive it"

- Jim Jones

Also that FCC crap limits it too

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Its the cable guy!

I'd also add that it wouldn't be a bad idea to steer clear of "soft modems". Hardware UART chip based and probably external is the route I would suggest. I would say go with internal isa but I don't know your paticular setup and if its new PC it probably doesn't even have an ISA bus

Right now i have the following:

pentium 2 350
64 megs of ram
voodoo 3 2000 pci
NO USB PORTS!!!!!
NO AGP!!!!
lucent 56k winmodem

i connect at 37,333 BUT I GET REALLY REALLY HIGH PINGS!!! A guy pings me at 1024 ms and he has cable!!

Would i connect faster with an EXTERNAL modem or an internal modem?? My friend lent me an azura speedcom 56k modem and i connected at 48,888 without the right drivers!! So it aint the phone line. I live about 20 mins away from the company by car.


What should i get?
Thanks,
War_Demon

Replace as much of the wire as possible with CAT 5 wire, you never know what they make those cheap telophone cords out of they propably aren't even be copper let alone twisted pair like the phone company lines probably are, you may be able to get ride of several splices in the process. You won't know until you try.

I would go with an internal(because there is no telling what type of serial port you have fast or slow), a non-winmodem probably a 3com since they are in bed with Microsoft are are usually really easy to get up and running quickly. Also make sure you are dialing into a V.90 number if you are using a V.90 modem and so forth.

You didn't mention which operating system you are running? If you are using 95 you want to make sure you have your MAX-MTU set to 576 instead of the default 1500.

True true guys

I have a Diamond Supra internal and connect at 53,333. I think it's best to get an external because it relys on it's own hardware and not the hardware of your comp, thus freeing up resources, ie your chip and ram.

I have windows 98, I might upgrade in a couple of weeks to windows millenium.

Hey magg, How much did you pay for your Diamond Supra internal modem? I might go for that instead if the price aint too high!

Thanks,
War_Demon

It came with the comp, but they sell here for £40. I guess thats about $60? not too sure on the exchange rate..

You guys are forgetting a very important point when your talking about a normal telephone line modem.

Your connection speed for the most part is mostly determined by the quality of your copper phone lines. If you have noisy copper then you won't get a fast connection at all.

C.M. Weaver

I decided to get a 3com performance pro modem I hope it works well!!

Yeah 3com hardware modems seem to rule as far as conventional modems go.
I remember hearing of a modem that was called "the ultimate gaming modem" a while ago. I think places like Electronics Boutique sell it. You might want to look in to it as I heard it actually reduced ping times substantially somehow.....

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A:\ >format c:
WARNING, ALL DATA ON NON-REMOVABLE DISK
DRIVE C: WILL BE LOST!
Proceed with format (Y/N)?y

Check out pricewatch.com

Well, I run just a basic 433 stock eMachine
and I live out in the woods,I never, got any connects over 30.
So! I had a new phoneline installed, just for the pc only (& for other reasons)....But ! Now, I am allways connecting in the 52 & 3's now always!

I guess it's more of a, what? and how good your phonelines? question? Over the, what the best modem question?.. ha! Well it kinda was, & seemed that way for me anyhow.. & as others have stated..
Also, it helps a bunch, to learn & know & make sure you understand all the connection opts. with your modem & ISP..... anyway... Goodluck!