Help W/Buying 9600 Modem
11 messages in this thread
Hi Paul. Yes, it is true that CompuCom has announced an affordable V.32bis
modem. I am with CompuCom Corporation, and would be glad to answer any
questions here. For the moment, let me clarify your original post.
The V.32bis product will have a direct-from-CompuCom price of $539, and
will be available around the Sept./Oct. timeframe. The product,
tentatively called the Challenger, will provide not only V.32bis, but also
our own CSP protocol, which has become the de-facto standard for affordable
9600 baud modems (9600 internal for $149, for example).
What makes this modem unique is not only the price, but the fact that it
takes the highly unusual path of using a 68000-series microprocessor as a
central CPU, and twin high-speed DSP's as the modulation engine. It will
be the first to provide V.32bis with Fax, Voice Mail, and Caller ID
functions. Because of the type of architecture, future feature additions
and upgrades are a distinct possibility. There will be a $200 cheaper
model available with standard V.32 only– but upgradeable to V.32bis.
This is all I'll get into for now, as my intention isn't to make an
advertisement here at the moment. I am a long-term Amiga user, and welcome
the opportunity to be able to market these new products to the Amiga
market, which we haven't been able to tap until the recent release of
external products. For the record, at this moment our Fax and Voice Mail
products are available only for the MS-DOS market, but we are exploring the
Mac and Amiga markets as well.
Thanks for the interest.
Phil
Thanks for the info on the new "Challenger" product. We've been looking at
alternatives in the high speed modem market, but it's a tossup between
v.32bis and HST modes.
V.32bis looks to be the winner in the long run as many companies are/will
be making it, while in the short term HST is the best route due to the
LARGE installed user base. (I'm talking here of only the true high speed
modems, ala 14.4 kbaud carriers).
Perhaps by the time we're ready to add a second T1 line to our bbs system
(giving us another 24 lines) we might take advantage of any sysop deal
offered on the Challenger and go V.32bis on that bank.
Currently, our modem of choice is the Dual Standard which provides BOTH
V.32bis and HST.
You're welcome, Rick. No question about it, the USR stuff is good
equipment. Of course, the way *I* look at it, the potential user base of
$149 9600 baud users is _many_ times that of $600 modem owners- 'specially
since that amounts to half of the whole home computer investment to many
people.
On the other hand, I'm biased <g>.
BTW, which BBS is that which you run?
Phil
$149 9600 modem ??
– via Whap!
Yep… Speedmodem Champ: 300/1200/2400/9600 with MNP5- $149. Although, I
have to admit, that's an internal IBM-PC card. The external version, just
starting to ship next week, will be $179. I'm excited about being able to
put these into the Amiga marketplace. Already, we have most of the biggest
BBS's in North America supporting our CSP(tm) modulation standard for 9600
baud. Exec-PC, Rusty n Edies, Channel One, Invention Factory, etc.
BTW Keith, nice seeing you around again! It might interest you to know I'm
still calling CIS with Access! v1.42. Are you still in school? Did you
ever go beyond that version?
Phil
Phil,
Does that modem have 9600 as one of it's connect rates does it use
compression from 2400 to get to 9600 ? Either way, it sounds like a good
deal (would be a _great_ deal if it were a V.32bis modem!).
Thanks, it's good BEING around again (I was having withdrawal symptoms
<grin> ). I wasn't off to school however, just the school of hard-knocks.
I'm glad to hear that Access! v1.42 is still serving you well, I'm
afraid that I haven't upgraded it since then (see my other msgs regarding
it's fate).
Keith
Ah…hope you didn't get knocked _too_ hard in that school then! Sorry
that Access! looks doomed…at least from what you infer in your response.
I haven't been following the sig that much lately, I have a feeling those
threads probably scrolled off. Ah well.
As for the modem, yes- it is a _true_ 9600 bps raw speed. No compression
hokus-pokus is necessary for that figure. As it is, 90% of what the
typical user would do with their modem doesn't benefit from compression
anyway. It supports MNP-5 up through 2400 (4800) for what it's worth, and
our proprietary compression protocol (an external protocol) that gives "up
to 38,400 bps throughput"…although, I always cringe when people quote
those kind of numbers. Gotta compete with everyone elses marketroids
though- sigh.
Phil
I see… yes, for most users, the compression is basically useless (and in
the case of MNP 5 — if enabled — will actually increase the data).
Sounds like a good value modem you got there.
Uhm.. 'doomed' is not exactly what I was trying to infer about Access!,
but I think it's safe to say that version 1.42 (the last public version) as
such, will not be further upgraded due to a HD failure (among other things)
at an inopportune time. Will keep you posted of futher developements.
Keith
Ah..so it's not necessarily curtains for Access! then… good! I don't
mind if it becomes commercial, it would just be a pity if one of the most
user-friendly and attractive term programs for the Amiga would fade away.
Best wishes- talk to you again.
Phil
Phil:
Thanks for letting us know more about the Challenger. I just have 1
question for now. Is the Sept-Oct. time frame you mentioned for an external
version that us Amiga folks can use, or is it an internal for Pee-Cee type
machines?
Paul
Paul, the Sept/Oct time frame (the conservative in me feels more
comfortable saying "the first part of October" 🙂 is for an _external_
version. We decided to concentrate our efforts on getting out the external
because up until recently we were only able to sell into the MS-DOS/Intel
market since all our products were ISA cards. As of this month, we now
have external product which will work on almost anything. (One large
corporation even wants to use 'em to talk to their _supercomputer_…hehe)
Hope it helps.
Phil