On the issue of which high speed modem to buy: P to pause, S to cancel output 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴컴 Conf: COMMUNICATIONS Topic: GENERAL COMM Ref: 33VG0016 Date: 03/26/90 From: BOB MAHONEY Time: 12:00 pm To: VICTOR BELLEHUMEUR (Read 3 times) Subj: R: COURIER HST When talking about 9600 baud modems and their new features, keep in mind that all major manufacturers have already announced, or are about to announce, V.32 models with V.42 compatibility. Also as important, USR, Hayes and Telix are all producing "dual standard" modems. The high speed modems from these manufacturers are capable of, or will very soon be capable of the following: USR: Compatible with HST mode at 9600 baud and 14,400 baud, and compatible with V.32 with MNP 5 and/or with V.42. Hayes: (Their "Ultra" modem) Compatible with Hayes 9600 baud v-series and compatible with V.32 with MNP 5 and/or with V.42. Telebit: (Their "T2500") Compatible with PEP modems at 9600 baud and compatible with V.32 with MNP 5 and/or with V.42. Multitech: (Their newest V.32 modem) Compatible with V.32 with MNP 5 and/or MNP 5. Do you see a pattern developing here? All manufacturers are building modems with V.32 and MNP 5 and V.42. V.32 with V.42 is a new CCITT standard, MNP 5 is a powerful de facto standard with an already large installed base around the world. What should a sysop do? First, a sysop should not worry about V.32/V.42/MNP 5 since any major modem he buys will be fully compatible with that new industry standard. In that case, all brands are virtually identical. Most brands are even using the same Rockwell V.32 chip set for implementation of the new standard, meaning the modems are quite similar internally. My USR HST dual standard modems have received perfect connections from all other major brands of V.32 modems, so compatiblity at the V.32 level is not a factor in this discussion. In general, the user can consider all V.32 modems to be compatible. When they all support V.42 (any day now), they will all be compatible at the highest current standardized level of data compression and error correction. No big deal, not an issue anymore. If a sysop has already had a 9600 baud (or 14,400 baud) modem online for some time now, then the sysop already has a brand preference, and it is likely his callers think the same way. For example, Exec-PC has had 10 USR HST modems online for a long time. It is logical we will upgrade them to USR HST dual standard V.32/V.42 modems, not to Hayes modems, since our caller base has more callers using the USR HST modem. Many Unix systems use Telebit modems because Telebit has made a point of marketing to the Unix market for many years, Telebit has given healty discounts to Unix sites for many years, and Telebit has a few features tailored specifically for Unix applications. So a Telebit Unix site will obviously buy the new Telebit dual standard modems. If a sysop has been using a Hayes 9600 V-series modem for some time now, he will probably lean towards the Hayes dual standard modem. What if a sysop does not have any 9600 baud modems online yet? First, it is easy to eliminate the Telebit modem, since the great majority of PC oriented bulletin boards will have many more callers who already own USR or Hayes high speed modems. Telebit has never made a big dent in the PC BBS arena. So forget about Telebit when there are the nice USR and Hayes choices. Before I go on, one small but important point about the Telebit: When the Trailblazer was introduced about 5 years ago (and ever since), it has been touted as a full 19,200 baud modem. That is not exactly accurate. It is more accurately a 9600 baud modem that uses a data compression techique similar in concept to V.42, so some data will be compressed well, but ZIP, ARC, GIF and other compressed files will NOT give you 19,200 baud throughput. Magazine comparison tests have proven this. Next message: Hayes vs. USR. Bob Mahoney Exec-PC Multi-user BBS 414-789-4210 컴컴컴컴컴컴컴� Following thread Conf: COMMUNICATIONS Topic: GENERAL COMM Ref: 33VG1143 Date: 03/26/90 From: BOB MAHONEY Time: 12:19 pm To: VICTOR BELLEHUMEUR (Read 0 times) Subj: R: COURIER HST The issue of Hayes vs. USR is typically one based more on emotions and loyalties than on fact. I am emotionally opposed to Hayes because of the high prices they always charge consumers (they give good sysop discounts, but they don't have a history of giving reasonable prices to other users), and their belated introduction of a non-standard 9600 baud modulation scheme did not make sense to me when the market had already established some strong de facto standards. On issues of quality of connection, both the USR HST and Hayes V-series have performed to the satisfaction of reviewers in comparison tests. I think the modems are close enough in their performance on dirty phone lines that either modem is a good choice based on noise rejection. On the issue of speed of data transmission, the USR HST wins with a true 14,400 baud connection, then boosted by MNP 5 compression, and soon to be boosted even more by V.42. So if total data throughput (speed) is the top priority, the USR HST is the winner. If V.32 compatibility is the top priority, then either brand will do, since both are capable of V.32 with MNP 5 and V.42. Both use the same Rockwell chip set to accomplish this. Sysop price is not an issue, since Hayes has (finally) become competetive in sysop pricing, this from pressure from USR. Thank you, USR. Remember, though, that standardizing a BBS on Hayes will force some of your callers to spend more money than if you standardize on USR, since Hayes prices are an INDUSTRY LEADER in how high they are! Reliabilty? While the Hayes modems give a better IMPRESSION of reliability, since they have a nice extruded aluminum case with a solid feel, all of my experiences and the experiences of my industry acquaintances don't point out any reliability advantage for the Hayes products. As a matter of fact, Hayes has more reliability "black eyes" on the books than does USR. If you were not around when Hayes first introduced their 2400 baud modems back in the early to mid-80's, you missed some humorous "save face" actions when the Hayes modems had overheating and component failures and line noise problems galore. Not that this is typical of Hayes, but don't be fooled by appearances - any manufacturer can have quality problems, no matter what you think of them. A popular vote? No matter which modem can be argued to be better on levels of technical brilliance, performance, reliability, price or looks, Exec-PC has always been guided by the popular vote. Like it or not, US Robotics has a much greater installed base of 9600 baud modems on bulletin boards than does Hayes. I believe this has caused more BBS callers to buy the USR HST than to have purchased the Hayes high speed modem. The lower price of the USR products has also helped. So when choosing a high speed modem based on the greatest number of callers who can call Exec-PC, I obviously chose the USR HST dual standard. There simply is a larger population of BBS callers who own a modem compatible with it. Bob Mahoney Exec-PC multi-user BBS 414-789-4210 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Last Message In Thread <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< Exec-PC Conference/topic message menu You're in the COMMUNICATIONS conference, GENERAL COMM topic. (16696 minutes left) MESSAGE (RNTFSDMLCUQG, ?=HELP) ->