9600 Modem
I would bet the Practical Peripherals modem is a good one.
Here's how I see the standards:
V.24 2400bps
V.32 9600bps straight
V.42 9600bps with error detection/correction
V.42bis any?bps with compression
(there's also a V.32bis out there that is something else!) Anyway, these
V.xx standards are defined by the CCITT (a body of folks which create
datacomm standards), whereas the MNP levels were created by a different
group (stands for Microcom Networking Protocol I think). From what I've
read and heard, MNP 4 is error correction, MNP 5 is data compression, but
in the 2: 12:1 range. V.42bis can approach 4:1 depending on the kind of
file (ASCII compresses better than binary).
Apparently in the public arena, the CCITT standards are starting to gain
more acceptance than the MNP. But you still get them all with the better
modems you buy.