US Robotics Internet Discovery Suite question

[s4]

Is the PCI modem modem that comes with the Discovery Suite a better modem than the Winmodem? Has anyone had problems with this one? I'm looking at replacing my Winmodem. Any comments would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Kevin930]

I believe it is a WinModem.

 

[s4]

I think it is, too. I bought one, and it started installing the Winmodem driver, so I took it back.

 

[pcdoctor]

It is definitely a winmodem and thank goodness you took it back. I purchased one while running '95 sr2 and upgraded to '98 and the modem would not run. I took mine back and got a USR 16bit Plug and Play ISA.
The system is faster and I have fewer disconects now.

 

[s4]

Last April I bought this Winmodem that I'm using for $100. It worked great for about 4 or 5 months and then I started having problems. As soon as I realized the PCI version was a Winmodem, I hurried back to the computer store.

 

[Kevin930]

Are all the WinModems bad? Even the ones with Rockwell or Lucent chipsets? What if you don't play DOS games and only want to use the Modem in Windows?

 

[s4]

I can only speak from my experience. I just think paying $100 for one is a little much when a non-Winmodem can be bought for less. One brand that I had good luck with was Newcom. I've seen them as low as $59.

I spoke with the technician from my ISP and he said that they found that Winmodems (Usr) are unreliable. He recommended the ISA Usr Sportster FaxModem that he was selling at $129. He said they are more solid.

Myself, I've spent $100 on a Winmodem and wont buy another Usr because mine has a 5 year limited warranty and they have not offered to fix it, and I've called twice to tech support with the same problem.

 

[Kevin930]

So what's the point of a five year warranty if they don't honor it?

 

[s4]

I think they may honor it if I insist which is probably next.

In the mean time, I picked up a $19.99 56k modem from Computability (a special they had), and am trying it out. Connected at 44000 bps currently.