Connecting to the Internet from Home
What type of Modem Should You Get?

(January 1998)

[The statements made in this article are those of Microcomputer Services and have been supported by years of experience and much testing. Please remember that products and technology change so quickly in the field of modems that you should always consider this when reading statements printed here, particularly if you are considering the purchase of newer hardware or the user of newer technologies.]

Over the past few years Microcomputer Services has answered thousands of queries from users about connecting to the Internet from home. Many users call because they cannot get their modem to successfully connect after installing their Internet access software (this is usually referred to as Remote Access software). On occasion the problem can be tracked down to the type of modem which the user has purchased. There are two basic rules of thumb which can help to avoid many of the pifalls which we have seen, these are:

1. The less you pay for a modem, the less you are getting. Cheaper modems cost less because they tend to leave out essential hardware and/or software components which will allow them to work correctly with many of the software packages that are used to connect to the Internet.

2. If you own a PC or Mac it is almost always better to purchase an external modem rather than an internal modem whenever possible.

External modems have a number advantages, some of these are:

• You can avoid the issue of serial port conflicts with an external modem.
• External modems usually contain lights which you the status of your connection. With an internal modem there is no visual verification that you are connected to a service or that data is being sent or received.
• External modems usually have easily adjustable speaker volumes.
• If your modem does not hangup correctly you can simply turn it off. With an internal modem you may need (from time-to-time) to shut down your machine, turn off the power and then restart your machine to hangup the modem.
• You do not need to open your machine to install the modem.
• You do not need to (possibly) configure jumpers on an external modem.
• We have seen a number of internal modems that claim to be the counterpart of an external model which actually lack certain essential features.
• Finally, you can always use an external modem (easily) on more than one machine.

One possible disadvantage with an external (14,400 baud or faster) modem is that your PC must have high speed serial ports to use these types of modems. Almost all newer PCs (Intel 486 processors or above) have such ports. There are, however, some exceptions. If you use Windows version 3.1 you can do the following to determine if you have a high speed serial port:

• Exit Windows and go to the DOS prompt.
• Type "msd" (for Microsoft Diagnostics) at the DOS prompt and press [ENTER]
• Press "c" to view information on your COM (COMmunication or serial) ports
• Look at the last line of information labelled "UART Chip Used"
• If you see "16550xx" ("xx" can be any letters) under COM1 and COM2, then you have high speed serial ports and can use an external, high speed (14,400 baud or higher) modem.

If you are using Windows 95 do the following to determine if you have a high speed serial port:

• Go to the Start menu
• Choose Settings, and then open your Control Panels
• Double-click on the Modem Control Panel
• Click on the Diagnostics tab
• Highlight COM1 or COM2 and then click on the "More Info..." button
• You may have to wait a moment. If no modem is connected to this port you will get an error message about the modem failing to respond. Ignore this and click on "OK"
• Look at the "Port Information" box a the line which reads "UART:"
• This line should contain the string "16550" - You may see other letters,don't worry about this
• If you see "16550", then you have a high speed serial port. If you see anything else, then you do not.

If you do not have a high speed serial port we strongly suggest that you read the handout titled, Serial Port Issues on the PC and Remote Access Software", or view this handout on-line with your favorite web browser at the address -

You can pickup a copy of this handout in the Microcomputer Support Center, Room 202 of the Computing Center or in the Computing Center Documents Room Library (Room 205). This handout deals with the issue of what to do if you must use an internal modem or install an internal, high-speed serial card. Internal, high speed modems contain their own high speed serial ports, but, as the mentioned in the handout above, there are other issues you must worry about if you use an internal modem.

When you go to buy a modem if you pay much less than $75 for a 33,600 baud modem or $100 for a 57,600 baud modem there is a good chance that you are buying a modem which may lack crucial hardware or software features. Of course this is a rule of thumb and applies for the release date of this article. As you may know the prices of computers and their components fluctuates so rapidly that we may see less expensive but reliable modems in the future.

If you plan to use network applications such as Netscape (or any other web browser) we strongly recommend the purchase of a 33,600 baud modem. If you do find an old 14,400 baud modem you may find that the difference in speed is enough to make using the Web difficult to use. The increase in speed with 33,600 baud and faster modems makes using a graphical application, such as Netscape, much more enjoyable and rewarding.

If you have technical questions about the purchase of a modem feel free to contact Microcomputer Services at 346-4412, via e-mail at microhelp@oregon, or stop by the Microcomputer Support Center in Room 202 of the Computing Center anytime between 9 AM and 5 PM, Monday through Friday. Modem models and quality change constantly. The issues surrounding what type of modem will work with your machine and what modems seem to work well can be complicated. Microcomputer Services can help you to make an informed choice.

Finally, we present a short list of modem and dial-in related problems which we have seen and some modems we know work well with the modems used at the University of Oregon. As an aside, the UO uses US Robotics modems in its modem pools. Currently our largest modem pool, 346-6520, uses US Roboticts modems which support the X2 57,600 baud standard. Modems which use the K56Flex standard will not connect at speeds over 33,600 baud on this modem pool. At some point, we expect mid 1998, this modem pool will be upgraded to the final 57,600 baud standard which will allow owners of both X2 and K56Flex modems to be able to connect at speeds over 33,600 baud if the phone lines between the modem and us support the higher speeds.

• We recommend the purchase of US Robotics Sportster (now owned by 3Com) , Supra FaxModem (now Diamond Multimedia), or Hayes Courier modems. We know these modems and models work well with the UO modem pools.

• The US Robotics Sportster Voice modem (it's all black) is not recommended by us as it can be very difficult to get to work the first time and in some cases may not work at all when connecting with our modem pools.

• If you purchase a 57,600 baud high speed modem, such as a US Robotics/3Com modem with X2 technology, and you dial in to our high speed modem pool at 346-6520 you may not get a connection over 33,600 baud. As a matter of fact you may get connections below 28,800 baud. What is happening is that many of the phone lines in Eugene are in poor condition and cannot support high speed modem transmissions. US West has even placed noise suppression devices on some phone lines which guarrantee that your high speed modem will not be able to connect over 33,600 baud. The X2 and K56Flex technologies (both are 57,600 baud modem solutions) require certain high range signals which noise suppression devices eliminate on phone lines. If your high speed modem cannot connect using the high speed standard it will default back to the 33,600 baud standard. At this point your modem will act just like a standard 33,600 baud modem. This means that you connection speed is likely to be between 24,000 and 33,600 baud on a typical phone line in Eugene.

• The SupraExpress/Diamond Multimedia Express modem does not work with *any* portable Macintosh computers. This is (indirectly) stated on the box, but many users still purchase this modem for their portable computer because it runs without a separate power plug and costs less. The problem with this is that the modem gets its power from the keyboard port on the Macintosh. Portable Macintosh computers cannot reliably supply enough power to make the modem work and both Apple and Supra/Diamond Multimedia have told us that in some cases using this modem can ruin the logic board on your Macintosh.

• Some "Express" modem models may have a separate power cord for getting their power but do not include an on/off switch on the modem. This means that you must unplug and plug in the modem each time you wish to use it

• We have seen other external modems that do not have power cords (they use the keyboard port for power) which are actually Supra Express/Diamond Multimedia modems with a different brand name on them. We do not recommend buying such a modem for a portable Macintosh computer.

• On the Macintosh many users purchase Global Village modems since they have traditionally been one of the only "Mac Only" modem companies. Our experience with Global Village modems is that you can purchase a much better modem for less money. Global Village modems have traditionally had three issues which concern our staff:
  1. Global Village modems come with software which must be installed in order for them to work correctly. Most other modems do not require this. This is one more area where possible problems can arise.
  2. Under noisy line conditions when connecting with the UO modem pool Global Village modems have had problems maintaining reliable connections. One Global Vilaage modem model, the Gold II, does not even have built in error correction on the modem - a critical component for any modem.
  3. Over the last few years Global Village modems have consistently shown slower data transfer rates when tested again other modems such as the Sportster and FAXModems from 3Com/USR and Diamond Multimedia/Supra. This applies to modems dialed in to the UO modem pools using phone lines in Eugene, OR.

  
  

• If you are interested in purchasing a MegaHertz (now owned by 3Com) PCMCIA modem for the Mac or PC we recommend that you do not purchase the PC models XJ2288 and CC3288, or the Mac CruiseCard modem XJA 288 (or XJA2288). These modems contain a bug in their design which do not allow many of them to connect to our 346-6520 modem pool. This is the largest pool of modems at the UO (192), so not being able to connect with this group of modems can severely limit your Internet access possibilities from home. You should note that the new XJA 3288 (and higher models) modem on the Macintosh should work (we have yet to see this modem to verify this), and any of the newer PC MegaHertz modems which contain a cellular phone jack should work.

• If you are thinking of purchasing a PCMCIA (or "PC Card") modem for your portable computer and the model you are interested in uses the XJACK connector be sure that this is not actually a Megahertz (3Com) XJ2288 or CC3288 modem with a different brand name. You should note that most XJACK modems are actually Megahertz (3Com) modems with minor variations by the manufacturer selling them. For a detailed discussion of this issue please see our full report at the following web address:
  http://micro.uoregon.edu/bug/megahertz.html

• If you are interested in a notebook computer with a trackball be sure that the trackball is not actually using the COM1 port. The track ball should be using the computer's bus instead of a COM port. If the computer does use COM1 and you wish to use a PCMCIA modem to connect to the Internet there is a good chance that you will have problems making a reliable connection since the modem will use COM3 which conflicts with the COM1 port (see the "Serial Port Issues on the PC and Remote Access Software" handout mentioned earlier in this article). A specific brand and model that has this problem is the Cannon Inova 150 series. We suspect that other notebook computers have the same issue.

• Finally, if you purchase a modem be sure that it comes with a manual documenting its features and internal command set. This will be essential if, for some reason, your modem does not connect using standard configurations for Internet access software.

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