Director of Technical Services, Baka Industries Inc.

TelePort modems are now cheaper, according to Global Village. The company, which is celebrating its position as the sole vendor with internal modems for the new 500-series PowerBooks, announced significant drops in retail price for its desktop modem line, effective 16-May-94.

The top-of-the-line TelePort/Mercury, with v.32terbo 19,200 bps data capability, dropped from $399 to $349 retail, which includes Global Village's proprietary GlobalFax software and OCR software. The v.32bis (14,400 bps) TelePort/Gold dropped from $349 to $279 (which also includes GlobalFax and the OCR software), and the v.32 (9,600 bps) TelePort/Silver fell from $319 to $279. Prices for the PowerPort series of internal PowerBook modems, and for the low-end 2400 bps TelePort/Bronze II, remain unchanged.

Confused by the identical prices for Gold and Silver models? Don't be. A Global Village representative explained that the company doesn't expect to continue selling the v.32 (9,600 bps) Silver model, which includes GlobalFax but lacks the OCR capability and is considerably slower than its shinier cousins.

Another item of interest is a $100 rebate, redeemable directly from Global Village, when U.S. customers purchase a PowerPort or TelePort/Mercury or Gold modem and one of the company's new OneWorld Remote Access servers, through 30-Sep-94.

Global Village's modems are still slightly more expensive than many of their competitors' products (and Practical Peripherals just announced broad price drops as well), but the new prices are more in line with other good-quality products' prices, and even narrow the gap with the "el cheapo" products somewhat. Global Village is confident that their fax software, their support, and their warranty make the premium price worthwhile. As an active user of three Global Village modems and a variety of other companies' modems, I've seen no reason to disagree.

-- Information from:
Global Village propaganda