Info-Mac 3/Info_Mac_1994-01.iso/Periodical/TidBITs/TidBITS#163⁄Modems.etx

Text File | 1993-02-14 | 25KB | 486 lines

TidBITS#163/Modems
==================

 In this special issue, we present our general modem discussion (at
   least enough so you can judge among modems that have impressive
   sounding, but misleading, specs) and review two popular
   v.everything modems, the Practical Peripherals PM14400FXSA and
   the Supra's SupraFAXModem v.32bis. They're both inexpensive,
   capable, and reliable (although that's not to say that other
   modems may not be equally as good).

 Copyright 1990-1993 Adam & Tonya Engst. Non-profit, non-commercial
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Topics:
    Fast Modems Rule
    Modem Speed
    Actual Connections
    Modem Software
    Extra Features
    Support
    Fax Galore
    FaxMania
    Conclusions
    Details

[Archived as /info-mac/digest/tb/tidbits-163.etx; 25K]


Fast Modems Rule
----------------
  In the last year we've seen the rise of several varieties of fast
  modems, which I jokingly call "v.everything" modems because they
  seemingly support every standard protocol in the
  telecommunications world, including such arcana as v.22bis,
  v.42bis, v.32, and v.32bis, none of which I'm going to explain
  here. I could do so, and if there's enough clamor I might consider
  it, but it's not that interesting and the major magazines have all
  done a decent job of it in the past. In addition, I feel you
  shouldn't give a hoot what protocols your modem uses; you should
  ignore it entirely because all modems should support all
  protocols. As we'll see, that's unfortunately untrue.

  In any case, as enthusiasm grew to a fever pitch, I decided that
  in the interests of science I should review several of the most
  popular modems so I could pass on my findings. I chose two modems
  based on several criteria: price, features, company reputation,
  and the pitch of the online fever. The modems are the Practical
  Peripherals PM14400FXSA and the SupraFAXModem v.32bis. The Supra
  modem sells for around $360 discount, and the PPI 14400FXSA (they
  should shrink that name) goes for about $50 more, but you should
  find either affordable, assuming you can afford that much at all.

  The testing took some time, and during that time I experienced
  numerous tangential problems: the night the demon fax machine from
  hell called every 15 minutes but could not connect, a trip or two
  to Macworld, and the ultimate decision about which modem to keep.
  As such, this review expanded to include information and opinions
  that arose during the testing.


Modem Speed
-----------
  Let's face it, you buy these modems for their speed. You want
  screamingly fast data transfers that leaves wisps of smoke coming
  out of your serial ports and burnt rubber on your phone lines. The
  good news is that you'll get that speed, and you can now download
  QuickTime movies without fear of tying up your phone line for a
  fortnight. The bad news is that you won't get that speed
  everywhere, and you'll start nagging other people to upgrade to
  faster modems.

  The great fallacy of modems is that you need two to tango, and if
  the partners, say me and Ginger Rodgers, don't dance at the same
  speed, then the you'll see a pretty lame tango because Ginger
  can't dance with me the way she could with Fred Astaire.

  Telecommunications takes this to the extreme, so your snazzy new
  v.everything modem will step down to the highest common speed it
  and a remote modem share. So you must think about the modems you
  connect with, and find out if they support the same protocols as
  the modem you want to buy. I say "protocols" specifically, because
  modem companies bat around the term "speed" in misleading ways, so
  you may see a "9,600 baud" modem that is really a 2,400 bps (bits
  per second) modem that also includes v.42bis compression
  protocols, thus increasing the theoretical throughput to 9,600
  bps. (Although baud does not equal bps the two terms are often
  used interchangeably in the industry.) So make sure your modems
  share protocols, and the best one to share is v.32bis, which
  equals 14,400 bps. Next in line is v.32, which equals 9,600 bps.
  You can usually count on those sort of modems also supporting the
  compression protocols of v.42bis and MNP 5, and if something
  supports MNP 5, it will usually, if not always, support MNP 1
  through 4 too, but you should almost never worry about those. Just
  take that v.32 or v.32bis number and compare it with all the
  modems you connect to on a regular basis. If it matches, good. If
  not, 2,400 is a nice even number that you'll get used to seeing
  after CONNECT.

  One caveat to this. The commonly-used US Robotics line of modems
  uses a proprietary standard called HST, which is not v.anything.
  Thus, two HST modems achieve high speeds talking to each other,
  but a different v.32 modem must step down to the highest common
  speed of 2,400 bps. US Robotics also has a Dual Standard modem,
  which supports v.32bis as well as HST, and that one works fine
  with v.32bis modems from other companies.


Actual Connections
------------------
  That said, I tried these modems with a bunch of others that I
  normally work with. On the whole, both modems worked well,
  although I experienced more quirks than I would have liked, and
  I'm now fluent in the Hayes command set. I connected to (as far as
  I know, and with the highest speed I could reach after each one) a
  Telebit TrailBlazer Plus (2,400 bps), a Telebit T2500 (v.32 =
  9,600 bps), a Telebit WorldBlazer (v.32bis = 14,400 bps), a US
  Robotics HST (2,400 bps), a US Robotics Dual Standard (v.32bis =
  14,400 bps), and several other v.32 and v.32bis whose
  manufacturers I don't know. Both the PPI and the Supra connected
  equally well and transferred files equally well to all of these
  modems with one exception. For some reason I couldn't figure out,
  the Supra would not connect to the WorldBlazer at v.32bis. Instead
  I had to lock the connection speed at 9,600 bps (v.32), after
  which it worked fine with the WorldBlazer. That may be a quirk
  with my particular setup, or it may have been fixed by one of
  Supra's ROM upgrades since then.

  In both cases, using ZMODEM to transfer files over the fastest
  possible connection satisfied my longing for speed. Uploading 30K
  issues of TidBITS, which used to take about 90 seconds at 2,400
  bps now takes about 11 seconds. Massive QuickTime movies and
  HyperCard stacks might take fifteen minutes, but you'll be hard
  pressed to download anything for much longer than that. Gone are
  the days of hour-long downloads.


Modem Software
--------------
  Software on the other end can play a role too. Connecting to
  CompuServe, which supports v.32, works fine, but you only enjoy a
  speed increase in uploading and downloading files. Transferring
  mail and forum messages in Navigator doesn't go much faster, and
  it's not worth the significantly higher connect charges for most
  people. If you download files from CompuServe regularly, work out
  a system for transferring files at a high speed, then hanging up
  and getting mail and messages at 2,400 bps.

  Similarly, America Online (AOL) doesn't yet support speeds faster
  than 2,400 bps, partly from a software standpoint and partly
  because they probably haven't figured out how to charge for it
  yet. Users have been screaming for the faster lines and software
  on AOL's end to support them for some time, and Steve Case,
  president of America Online, has assured us that it will happen in
  the near future, although that was months ago. I don't use GEnie
  or Prodigy, but again, it doesn't matter what speed you can use if
  they can't match it in hardware and software. Check that, because
  the claims about a faster modem paying for itself in reduced
  connect charges may not apply to your specific situation. Sad but
  true.

  If you connect to an Internet machine, I expect that you will have
  more luck in finding fast modems and appropriate software on the
  remote end. In addition, generic mainframes seldom have speed
  limitations on their dial-up lines because those dial-up lines
  essentially emulate a directly-connected terminal. Reading Usenet
  with nn or rn becomes a joy rather than a bore, and if your site
  has the latest and greatest software, you might be able to use
  SLIP and one of the many useful free or shareware programs
  that require a SLIP connection. I recently set up a SLIP
  connection, and have seen throughputs as high as 1,700 characters
  per second (roughly 17,000 bps) with compression on a v.32bis
  connection.


Extra Features
--------------
  As time passes, modem companies become more aware of ways to ease
  telecommunication. Flashing lights have long been the modem's only
  interface to the outside world, but both the Supra and the PPI
  have gone beyond that, especially the PPI. Supra provides a two-
  letter LED display that lets you know what the modem thinks is
  happening, and after you connect, the display rotates between
  telling you about the connection speed, data compression, error
  correction, and the like. PPI raised the ante on this neat and
  extremely useful feature with a 12 character LCD display that
  shows more readable and verbose messages. I quickly became
  addicted to the PPI display, and my only quibble is that you have
  to orient the modem so that you can see it straight on. The PPI
  also has more little lights, but frankly, other than off-hook, and
  send and receive data, they don't tell me anything useful. Stick
  with these displays, modem makers!

  Both modems report on their version numbers and all that, but PPI
  added an additional diagnostic, ATI6, which gives information
  about the last session, including number of characters, octets
  (close relatives of the ocelot), packets, and NAKs (related to the
  common YAK) sent and received, the last number called, the
  connection time, modes and protocols used, and finally, how the
  call was terminated. I don't use it often, but every now and then
  I refer to this information to figure out what happened with a
  connection.

  Supra added a photocopied sheet to their package with tips and the
  best configuration strings for the common Macintosh programs. I'm
  sure PPI has the same sort of information around, and I would have
  appreciated a similar sheet with the PPI modem. For instance, it's
  going to take a while to figure out that you can't use hardware
  handshaking with Mike O'Connor's CompuServe Navigator, and it may
  take some time to find the &K4 string to shut it off.

  Both modems come with dramatically improved manuals from previous
  modems I've seen, but even still, the bulk of each manual is
  devoted to listing all the various parts of the modem's command
  set and what the different variables do. I rate the manuals about
  equally because both provide useful information in normal English.
  Nonetheless, I would have liked to have seen more basic
  information about different protocols and compression modes. I
  know at least PPI has a free brochure on that subject, so why not
  put that information in the manual? If you are interested in
  getting the free brochure, call PPI at the number below and ask
  for it.

  Both modems include fax and data software, MicroPhone 1.6 and
  FaxSTF for the Supra, and Quick Link II Fax for the PPI. I suppose
  that's good for novice users, but I feel that people who want a
  good simple communications program for the Mac will use the
  shareware ZTerm, and those who want more power will look to
  MicroPhone II 4.0 or White Knight. Nonetheless, it's good to have
  something to play with immediately if you don't already have a
  communications program.

  You might like one neat little feature that the PPI has that other
  modems may share. It converts letters to numbers, so you can put
  numbers like 1-900/TAX-HELP into your automatic dialer and the
  modem will dial the appropriate numbers for those letters.

  Incidentally, you need a special hardware handshaking cable for
  these modems to reach their true potential. This is something of a
  non-issue, since both companies bundle hardware handshaking cables
  with their Mac packages, but if your modem comes without one of
  those cables, you'll have to buy one separately (from the modem
  companies or from MacConnection) for about $15.


Support
-------
  Modems are perhaps the most-trouble free pieces of common computer
  peripheral. I say that based on their incredibly long warranties,
  five years for the Supra and a lifetime warranty for the PPI.
  Nevertheless, I've seen a number of reports of modems being dead
  on arrival, so support carries a fair amount of importance. In
  addition, during the first few weeks of use as you gradually
  connect to more and more high-speed modems, you may need help in
  figuring out the best configuration strings. Finally, although a
  modem's programming is burned into a chip, modem companies do
  occasionally, or even frequently, update those ROMs to add
  features or fix bugs. Both Supra and PPI have issued several ROM
  upgrades since shipping the modems.

  I had a doozy of a support problem that isn't related to either of
  the modems, but which gave me a good sense of the level of
  support. The day I installed both modems, my UUCP mail host
  upgraded its modems to Telebit WorldBlazers. Since that day, I
  have not been able to send to that machine with either of the new
  modems or with my old 2,400 bps modem, using any program or
  protocol. I've even tried it not only from my SE/30, but also from
  our PowerBook 100 and Classic. Receiving works fine, but sending
  fails, though not always in the same place, and slowing down the
  speed usually increases the time before the first packet time-out.
  Even stranger, other people with the same modems, the same
  computers, and the same software can send files to this machine
  with no trouble, and I even used a neighbor's phone line briefly
  to make sure my phone line hadn't changed. We're talking the
  communication problem from hell here, and we have no clue how to
  fix it, although we've determined it even happens when my Mac is
  directly connected to the Vax via a long cable. As I said, I now
  speak the Hayes command set fluently because I've changed
  literally every setting that could affect the connection.

  First I called each company's tech support people, and received
  little help. Both technicians said that the problem obviously
  wasn't with their modem, so they couldn't help me. True, but I
  would have appreciated any suggestions they could have provided.
  Next I asked on CompuServe, where both companies offer support.
  PPI's tech support staff there, Paul Hansen and Marty Azarani,
  offered numerous suggestions and hints, and sent me a new front
  panel for the PPI modem (mine had a bad LED for transmit) and a
  new ROM to fix some fax difficulties among other things. The
  process was absolutely no hassle - just a message outlining what I
  needed and where to send it, and from the messages I've seen,
  everyone gets the same level of support. Though not quite at the
  level of the support I received from PPI, Supra's online support
  was good as well. The only drawback here is that you need a
  CompuServe account to easily receive this excellent service,
  although you can send Internet email to Supra and Paul Hansen of
  PPI will try to help via email as well, although without the
  thread context, he will have more trouble keeping what's happening
  straight. Paul said that he's in the process of setting up an
  Internet account (see below for addresses).


Fax Galore
----------
  Well, not really. I include fax capabilities in my "v.everything"
  tagline, and both of these modems have it, and both come with
  appropriate fax software. That's the good news. The bad news is
  that my success rate with receiving and sending faxes has been
  low, although there are several reasons for that.

  The Supra comes with FaxSTF from STF Technologies, and I have few
  complaints about FaxSTF. STF designed a decent interface, the
  software handles most things automatically (like bringing up a
  non-modal status window automatically when a fax comes in), and
  offers features you might normally want from a fax machine. My few
  complaints are that STF isn't great about sharing the serial port
  with other communications programs and that it includes a lot of
  pieces, including two DAs, an application, a Control Panel, an
  extension, and Chooser device. That's a lot to keep straight, and
  the fact that you have to configure most everything from within
  the Chooser device bothers me. I'd like STF to bring the number of
  pieces down to an extension that sends and receives and has a
  Control Panel interface for configuring the software, a single DA
  for feedback and sending quick text faxes, and the otherwise nice
  application for managing phone books and viewing faxes.

  FaxSTF insists on taking over the modem if you turn on auto-
  answer, and not all communications programs deal well with making
  FaxSTF relinquish control of the serial port. My automatic mail
  sessions in America Online, uAccess, and Navigator all work, but
  often I come in to see that the modem is no longer auto-answering
  and that uAccess is complaining about not being able to access the
  serial port. Still, I could suffer with FaxSTF the way it stands,
  and in conjunction with the Supra modem it worked about half of
  the time. Perhaps one of the ROM upgrades will help.

  QuickLink II Fax from Smith Micro originally had real problems. I
  can overlook the functional troubles for the moment, since I was
  working with a beta version and most of the functional problems
  seem to have disappeared, although when QuickLink II has Fax
  Receiving on, at least uAccess cannot access the serial port. (PPI
  owners on CompuServe can get the latest software by asking in the
  Practical Peripherals forum, GO PPIFORUM, or you can call PPI and
  order it, with disk and manual, for $34.95.) More serious in my
  opinion are the problems with the interface. QLIIFax has two basic
  interface problems. First, the fax software comes in the same
  program as a normal telecommunications program, so you can use it
  for calling BBSs as well as sending faxes. This may sound good,
  but the telecom part of the program is unimpressive, if
  functional, and doesn't support ZMODEM. Including menus with data
  and fax commands clutters and confuses the interface
  significantly. Second, although Smith Micro significantly revamped
  the interface when I and other complained about it, I'm still not
  impressed. It's prettier and there are fewer modal dialogs, but it
  still doesn't look or work as smoothly as FaxSTF.

  In both apps, the procedure for creating a fax is simple - merely
  choose the fax driver in the Chooser and print the document. You
  can either send the document immediately or schedule sending for a
  later date. Of course, no matter what you do (even with using
  TrueType or ATM fonts, a necessity for faxing), the document will
  look ugly on the other end and in most cases will print on non-
  recyclable paper. Frankly, although I admit their utility, I think
  faxes generally waste paper. Although I don't know if they have
  released it yet, STF is working on a program that does optical
  character recognition on incoming faxes, turning them from disk-
  hungry bitmaps into usable, editable text files. More power to
  them, and if possible, we'll review it here.

  I suspect that when all is said and done, both modems will
  eventually work equally well at sending and receiving faxes,
  although people I've spoken with say that fax modems are never as
  reliable as regular fax machines, which is a shame. I have had
  trouble primarily with receiving faxes, which currently arrive
  successfully about 10% of the time. At the moment, I have to give
  the nod to the Supra modem and its FaxSTF software, or to a the
  PPI modem with the additional purchase of FaxSTF (which you can
  buy separately, and it's included in MicroPhone Pro from Software
  Ventures), for those who anticipate using the fax features often.
  Others have also recommended the Global Village modems and their
  proprietary software, but I've never even seen it.


FaxMania
--------
  T/Maker sent me a copy of ClickArt for Faxes a while back, before
  I had a working fax modem (and they included candy with the review
  copy, an excellent policy that I recommend to the rest of the
  industry). It's a neat idea if you send a lot of otherwise boring
  faxes, because it's composed of a collection of cover sheets in
  various formats, including Word, WriteNow, MacWrite, and MacPaint.
  You can snazz up your faxes with these cover sheets, but you may
  not find all the sentiments entirely to your liking, although you
  can easily edit them. That's a personal decision and not something
  I can judge easily. I know that there were only two cover sheets
  with penguins on them, something I could use more of. :-)

  My complaint about ClickArt for Faxes is that these fax programs
  already have a feature that automatically generates a cover sheet,
  so if you use these, you must remember to shut off the automatic
  cover sheet or you'll look dumb. Otherwise, ClickArt for Faxes is
  a simple and inexpensive ($69 list) way to have fun, and the world
  can use more of that.

    T/Maker -- 415/962-0195 -- 415/962-0201 (fax)


Conclusions
-----------
  If you want a new modem and you have an excuse to buy a fast one,
  I recommend either of these units. If you only connect at 2,400
  bps, you can probably go for a cheaper 2,400 bps data/9,600 bps
  fax modem. Otherwise, the price is right for what these modems
  provide in terms of the fastest data transmission commonly
  available and the added send and receive fax capabilities that
  businesses find useful.

  That doesn't answer your question, though, about which of the two
  to purchase. In most ways, the modems are similar, so it comes
  down to specifics. For my uses, the PPI gains a slight edge
  because of the one quirk with the Supra in talking to the
  WorldBlazer and the neat LCD display. I seldom use faxes if I can
  help it because I don't approve of them, so PPI's Quick Link II
  Fax software doesn't bother me as much as it would otherwise.
  Finally, I'm unlikely to travel with this modem at all, so the
  PPI's larger size doesn't bother me. In summary then, I think the
  PPI is a slightly better primarily-data modem for desk use. The
  Supra has far better fax software, is cheaper, and is much smaller
  (although it runs hotter because it uses the metal case as a heat
  sink). I took it to Boston for Macworld and found it a good
  traveling modem, though certainly not as small as some. You won't
  go wrong with either modem, but it might be worth checking into
  other modems that these two companies have released in the
  meantime. Supra has an internal PowerBook modem, and PPI
  introduced a tiny pocket modem, both of which might be better
  suited to travelling if you do a lot of it.


Details
-------

PM14400FXSA
    Practical Peripherals, Inc.
    375 Conejo Ridge Avenue
    Thousand Oaks CA  91361
    805/497-4774
    805/374-7200 (fax)
    Paul Hansen -- [e-mail]
    Marty Azarani -- [e-mail]
    Alan Engle of Smith Micro -- [e-mail]


SupraFAXModem v.32bis
    Supra Corporation
    7101 Supra Drive SW
    Albany, OR  97321
    503/967-2400
    503/967-2401 (fax)
    [e-mail]
    [e-mail]
    Jason Collins of STF Technologies -- [e-mail]


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