On Friday September 5, 2003 Stephen Carville <carville@xxxxxxx> wrote > I finally got the internal modem (PCtel 2304 WT v.92) working on my Dell > C840 and my wife's i8500 but the performance is less than stellar and > the modmes have nasty tendency to get stuck in screwy state > necessitating a reboot. This is not good. > > I'm considering going to a USB modem instead. Anyone have any > experience (or horror stories) to shares on the subject? Price is > important but I've seen some for as little as $40. From what I've > read, USB modems are "real" modems with the USB replacing the serial > cable on traditional external modems. If true, it would be a better > solution than the $&^%ing winmodem I'm trying to use now. Stephen, If your machine has a DB9 COMx port available, I think a classic external modem would be your best choice. A genuine firmware-type (not controller-less winmodem) external modem with an old fashioned serial port should cost about the same as one with USB, and will be well-supported with no surprises or gotchas. My home is 23,000 cable feet from the nearest telephone central office, so DSL is not available to me. And as a DirecTV subscriber, neither is cable modem service (yeah, I know about DirectWay: Windows only!). I'm still using an external modem connected to a Hawking Technologies Internet Sharing Server (model PN8228 http://www.hawkingtech.com/prodSpec.php?ProdID=100). The ISS connects to my 10/100 Etherswitch along with four PCs, two printers, and a SonicBlue DVR. None of those has to be configured for modem operation. The ISS functions as a NAT gateway that auto-dials my ISP whenever any machine tries to connect to an outside IP address. The technology is a bit old, but it works very well. You might consider it as an easy way for both your Dells to access your ISP independently via modem. --Doc Savage Fairview Heights, IL -- Shrike-list mailing list Shrike-list@xxxxxxxxxx https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/shrike-list
