Elsa 56K Int. PCI Modem retail for $19.95 shipped

[Mats122]

B@y.com has it in their Clearance section under Modems, free shipping.

 

[Kwad Guy]

Is there anything substantially good about this modem? Lucent
chipset? Hardware? It's easy to find $20 PCI modems these days,
so unless it's at least a Lucent chipset (the best) or a
hardware modem (which would make it a steal), this isn't much
of a deal.

Kwad

 

[Bilbo777]

How do you tell if a modem is a good 'hardware' modem? I read years ago.. the cheap modems are the 'win' modems which use up your CPU instead of running by itself..

Tks.

 

[Mats122]

I think that the hardware internal modems are the ISA ones and it's old technology, when a winmodem was slowering your processor. I do not even have an ISA slot on my motherboard anymore. I might be wrong, but I was thinking that Elsa is a good brand and so the modem must be good too and should be better then a no-name $20 one?
This one is $19.95 shipped!
The same modem sells at B@y.com as non clearance for $38.24 + shipping.
Cannot say anything more till I get it.

 

[valkyrie]

There ARE hardware pci modems (my 3com is one), but they'll certainly be more than $20. Any modem under say $50 is pretty much guaranteed to be a winmodem.

 

[Mats122]

Which is your 3com modem - USRobotics has like 50 diffrent models.
Can you advise which one is the hardware one?

 

[PG]

Any external modem that connects to a serial port is a true hardware modem, but USB modems can be winmodems.

One of those clearance modems is external and connects to a serial port. It can also save you a PCI slot.

 

[sirhc75]

This thing is screaming Winmodem! Not worth the time if you want the cpu performance.

 

[WhiteMouse]

On my cel400, my winmodem just uses 3%-5% CPU time. On my daughter's P133, her winmodem uses less than 10% of CPU.

So you should not worry too much about the CPU performance, unless you are still using a super slow processor, which you can not get any good performance anyway.

 

[oneeighty]

mats122-

3Com #2976 PCI Hardware Modem w/o voice OEM
3Com #2977 PCI Hardware Modem w/voice OEM

Axiontech has the 2977 model for $53.95 + shipping
AxionTech.com - Product Info on MDUR2977

 

[Mats122]

Tks

 

[Nessism]

Speaking of modems...Overstock has a Compaq brand hardware modem for $56.74 - $20 (coupon from techbargains) = $36.74 Warm Only

Cut and paste from Overstock:

"Compaq Netelligent 56K ISA Fax Modem is a true hardware modem utilizing Rockwell's famous chip set. This PC modem also has jumpers, allowing it to be used in any software or hardware environments."

Link here

Does anyone know anything about this modem?

 

[Mats122]

ISA

 

[Kwad Guy]

"Rockwell's Famous chipset" is kind of like saying
"E*Machine's Famous high quality construction".

I guess Rockwell is better than PCTell. And E*Machine is better
than Packard Bell. PcTell--Packard Bell. It rhymes so well.

Kwad

 

[Edsel]

"Any modem under say $50 is pretty much guaranteed to be a winmodem."

Not necessarily. Do a search for "hardware modem" on Pricewatch and you'll find a number of sub-$50 units. There is supposedly a PCI hardware modem for $26 and a 3Com PCI hardware modem for $37.50 plus S&H (Model #2974). SoftwareandStuff even claims to have an external hardware modem for $30, that supposedly 'works great under Linux' (caps & exclamation points omitted).

 

[oneeighty]

Edsel-
The 3Com #2974 is a an OEM winmodem. That one vendor on pricewatch screwed up when entering the description. Run another search on pricewatch; this time key in "2974 modem". You'll see most vendors correctly describe the model #2974 as a winmodem.

 

[Mats122]

A lot of stores on Pricewatch advertise a lot of stuff that don't exist to gain customers and for searches. Then you order one, they ship and - either you never find out that specs are not as advertised or you stick with it as their customer service is below any expectations.
My 2 cents.