Reflections of a ModemJunkie by Leonard Grossman I've been thinking lately, perhaps I should change the name of this column. I talk about other things from time to time: New software, the state of the world. And besides, I thought, I'm not really addicted to this thing. And then something happened. I did a little outside work and had a couple of hundred dollars burning a hole in my pocket. After all, I only had a 14,400 modem. (A proud possession only a short time ago--Was it that long ago that I upgraded from 1200 to 2400 bps?). So after doing a little (but probably not enough) research on line, I began my search for a new modem. I went to Computer Central in Dupage. But they didn't have anything under $200 (except from vendors from Cleveland... (After being burned before I have rule: Never buy mail order and never, NEVER buy from a Cleveland vendor.. I was determined to buy external modem (I'm lost without those lights). My choices were between the USR Sportster, the Supra and the Cardinal. Calling around, I found CDW had the Sportster for $199. So off I went. None were on the shelf. The sales person said they were out of the Sportsters and offered me a "great buy" on a USR Courier (of course it was well over my budget). After a few minutes, (when he saw I wasn't going to jump at the Courier, he looked at his computer screen again (interesting how the customer can see the screen through the class in the counter, but its too blurry to read from the customer's angle.) "I must have been looking at the Macs, I do have a Sportster." I didn't know there was a difference between modems for the different platforms. I have switched my old modems between Macs and Pcs with no problems. But it wasn't until I got home that I thought I might have just escaped being a victim of a bait and switch. Anyway, he knocked a dollar off of the price and I took the Sportster home for $198 ($2 below budget.) (Perhaps the difference is in the free software in the box not in the modem... Would it really have made a difference if I got Mac disks for America Online, C$erve, Genie, and Netcom?) As soon as hooked it up, I logged on to the Internet and found the comp.dcomp.modems news group (something I should have done first). Guess what? That afternoon USR announced a firmware upgrade for the Sportster (V.34+ 33.600). I quickly learned I hadn't asked the right questions either. I had asked if the Sportster was upgradable, I didn't specify flash rom. So here I was with a brand new modem.. and already it was out of date. USR was making the new chip available for $25 and shipping. I called first thing Monday morning. Tech support hadn't even heard about it yet, but assured me they could ship overnight. They wouldn't let me pick it up at the plant in Skokie. "Let me think about it," I said. After all, with shipping it would now be $30 over my budget while later purchasers would find the new chip installed without being required to pay extra for the chip. And besides, some contributors to the usenet group had already found that they had purchased boxes with the new chip off the shelf-- there is no way to tell from the box. I felt rooked. But I gave in.. after all I wanted the latest and the fastest. So I called back.. 40 minutes to get through (that's what speaker phones are for), only to learn that the overnight delivery had now turned into at least a 30 day wait. Heck, I could return my unit and wait a month and probably buy it off the shelf by then. So I said no. I'll stick it out. Most of my connections seemed to be at around 21 or 24 k. Even though throughput never reached 28.8, transfer rates were going much faster. (I was also learning just how much time on the Internet is spent waiting for something to happen on someone else's server. Faster modems can't change that. (Remember how you floppy drives seemed to slow down as you got faster processors? The faster transfer rates just exaggerate the waiting time on the Net). For a week I played and tuned, trying different initialization strings to see if I could get higher connections with greater frequency. I determined to go back to the store on Friday and trade for a new machine. (Maybe by then the new faster chip would have reached the shelves). Friday morning I made one more change to my Telix communications program setup. Voila!! After 5 years of uninterrupted use of Telix, I had blown the config. It would no longer connect. Sometimes it wouldn't even dial. What had I done? (I still don't know but that's another story.) Frustrated, I went back to CDW... But they didn't have any Sportsters in stock. The didn't have the Supra either (due in a week). But there was the Cardinal for only $164 and it was flash rom upgradable. (BTW: CDW was very cooperative on the trade in...I may have to take back those thoughts about the bait and switch.) So I have $38 in my pocket (including refunded tax) and the Cardinal is hooked up. It is flash upgradable, but there is no sign that Cardinal is going to go upgrade again at this time. The unit I bought already has the latest upgrade. So what good does the flash do me? Unfortunately the Cardinal uses a slightly different version of the Hayes command set so I have spent several days trying to find the right modem string. My Slip connection to the Internet is fine but I haven't been able to get Telix functioning yet. Fortunately, George has something called Banana Com online for quick download. Its a simple com program--already configured to dial Syslink.. So I can get through again and play BBS King (and upload this column). But its been frustrating. Should Powell have withdrawn? Should Gingrich and Clinton be taken to the woodshed for they poker game they played with the budget? I don't know. There are more important questions in the world. Should I have waited for the upgrade chip.. or saved my money for the Courier, or waited for the Supra with the helpful external display? These are the earth shaking questions. Did I say I was thinking of changing the name of this column?? Maybe I was premature. And did I tell you?? My last connect was a 28,8!!. Now if only I could make that constant...and if only I could get Telix connecting again. See you online. Comments to: grossman@mcs.com Copyright Leonard Grossman 1995.