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Should I buy a Winmodem?

Greetings old pal. 😀

"Should I buy a Winmodem?"

No, you should buy a hardware modem... You may want to run Linux.

Yes, if you're never going to run anything but "Windows".

No, if you live "out", where line noise is a problem.

Yes, if you want a dirt cheap modem to install.

You can pick up external USR Sportsters or Courier V Everything modem for cheap (compared to back-in-the-day prices), on ebay.
 
You might want to read this... :laugh:

Originally posted by: Modus
There are a number of reasons to avoid higher priced "hard modems," especially those made by 3Com/USR, in favor of a common PCI winmodem.

1) Winmodems are dirt cheap.

While a good Lucent LT or Rockwell/Conexant HCF winmodem can easily be found for less than $10 US (see PriceWatch) the cheapest hardware modem costs nearly four times as much: $36 plus shipping and handling. And for a 3Com part, you'll pay even more. By contrast, you can sometimes find winmodems for $5 or even for free with special promotions.

Everything else we put in our computers is subject to a price/performance ratio. In other words, if the performance of a more expensive part does not scale linearly with its price, we don't buy it. (RDRAM, anyone?) The same reasoning must be applied to hardware modems. They certainly don't perform four times as well as winmodems of a quarter the price, and as we'll see, they often don't perform any better at all.

2) Ping times and throughput are not an issue.

Modern Winmodems such as those based on the Lucent LT chipset will display ping times below 100ms and connect speeds around 48000, which is more than adequate for any Internet activity, including online gaming. Any recent softmodem -- especially the HCF variety, where the hardware handles a bit more of the duty -- should exhibit similar performance. Below, a cut and paste job from a generic Lucent LT v.90 PCI, which sells for as low as $9 on PriceWatch:

C:\WINDOWS>ping -n 10 router.infoserve.net

Pinging router.infoserve.net [199.175.157.4] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 199.175.157.4: bytes=32 time=101ms TTL=253
Reply from 199.175.157.4: bytes=32 time=105ms TTL=253
Reply from 199.175.157.4: bytes=32 time=90ms TTL=253
Reply from 199.175.157.4: bytes=32 time=105ms TTL=253
Reply from 199.175.157.4: bytes=32 time=90ms TTL=253
Reply from 199.175.157.4: bytes=32 time=105ms TTL=253
Reply from 199.175.157.4: bytes=32 time=90ms TTL=253
Reply from 199.175.157.4: bytes=32 time=105ms TTL=253
Reply from 199.175.157.4: bytes=32 time=90ms TTL=253
Reply from 199.175.157.4: bytes=32 time=105ms TTL=253

Ping statistics for 199.175.157.4:
Packets: Sent = 10, Received = 10, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 90ms, Maximum = 105ms, Average = 98ms

You may object that pinging an ISP would always yield good results. Actually, it's the only fair way to compare latency between modems. Pinging your ISP reduces the number of variables down to three: your modem's performance, the quality of your phone lines, and the nature of your ISP's modem pool. If we were to compare modems by pinging a fixed point on the Internet, we would quickly introduce several more uncontrolled variables: Internet traffic, server load, number of hops, etc.

Even if you ping your own ISP with an expensive hardware modem, I think you'll find it extremely difficult to match these numbers.

Not bad for $9, eh?

3) CPU utilization is minimal.

One of the main arguments against winmodems has been that they consume CPU cycles. Fortunately, manufacturers have always made sure to set minimum CPU guidelines so that the effect is not noticeable. If CPU usage was ever a problem, it certainly isn't today.

CPU power has increased many, many times faster than the technology behind softmodems. For instance, the CPU usage of a typical winmodem hovers below 5% on a Celeron 333. This is in the range of the power required by Windows to spin an hourglass cursor; it's certainly not something that will eat into your game play significantly. Once again, we see the benifit of an HCF winmodem solution, where the onboard DSP relieves much of the stress on the CPU. And now we have people running around with 1 GHz processors. Any drop in frame rate will barely be measurable, let alone visible.

4) They are reliable.

In my consulting business, I've sold dozens of PC's equipped with the cheapest Winmodems I could find. Only one has ever come back with a genuine hardware defect.

Many ISP support techs have a grudge against winmodems because they feel these types of modems are responsible for an innordinate number of support calls. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, almost all new computers sold today use winmodems; a person with a new computer and a modem problem will likely be using a winmodem, simply because they are more prevalent. Second, winmodems actually require the drivers they ship with. A new PC user who can't tell the difference between his RAM and his hard drive space will feel his eyes glaze over when confronted with a manual telling him how to install softmodem drivers. Instinct tells him to phone his "Internet guys" and get them to help.

In truth, winmodems are no more apt to fail than hardware modems, and probably less so, because they have fewer electronic components.

5) Driver/OS support is excellent.

The Lucent LT, for example, supports Windows 2000, Windows 9x, Linux (see www.linmodems.org under the Vendor section), and even the obscure BeOS. Lucent also seems comitted to releasing a new driver every few months, which means your modem's performance will always be as high as possible.

6) Affordable broadband Internet technology puts any analogue modem to shame.

Anyone using the Internet for more than email and chat sees the need for widely available broadband Internet access to replace our antiquated 56k connections. Trying to enjoy streaming audio or video over a modem connection is like trying to sip a thick milkshake through a thin straw. With the availability and affordability of high speed Internet access growing at a steady rate, it would be foolish to invest more than the minimum amount in modem technology that is already obsolete.

So when you consider the facts, there are very few valid reasons to avoid winmodems.

Modus
Click to expand...
 
Originally posted by: compuwiz1
Well??
Can my L33t CPU keep up with a Winmodem now?
Click to expand...

Just about all analog dialup modems are "winmodems" - controllerless modems these days, including the USB ones. True hardware ones usually run off a serial port. USR at some point did make a PCI based one a few years back.

As for 1337ness goes, the original ISA based US Robotics WinModem ran full speed on a Pentium 166 back in 1996 so...

 
Yeah, most motherboards now have modems built in.

Back in the day though, I had a 33.6kb hardware modem and then "upgraded" to a 56kb winmodem.....omg it was so much slower. Online gaming became completely unplayable, and connection speeds on the Internet slowed down so much. Guess my 300mhz K6 couldn't handle it.
 
One other caveat re/ USR: their return policy sucks. I bought a new USR on ebay (hardware, not WIN) and it died during the warranty period. USR would NOT repair or replace it because I did not buy it from an "authorized" reseller.

Screw USR.
 
Winmodems does have a tendency to fry as a result from lightning. If lightning is common where you live, consider avoiding them.
 
The thread title immediately made me think of Modus. Once I clicked the thread I was hoping that nobody had linked to his wisdom. Unfortunately Blain beat me to it. 😛
 
Modems suck.

I had a Lucent Winmodem stuck in the Parent's computer, started crashing the computer one day. It's in a landfill now..
 
i dunno, i glanced at the modem isle, the 30-70 dollar ones claimed to have hardware dsp. thats not winmodem right? zoom/usr.
 
I still use a modem for faxing. I had a winmodem, which kept crashing winfax and took windows down with it. I pulled an old hayes 14.4 external modem out of the closet. works like a charm and no more crashes.
 
I've not been able to get any Lucent/Agere based modems to work well with my systems - winmodems or RS-232 serial (I have tried Zoom and several generics). But I have three Rockwell/Conexant based RS-232 externals here that have all worked very well for me. Click the link in my sig.

.bh.
 
Ok, guys, time to let you on to the fact that this thread was created as a nostalgic joke. I was thinking about how far we've come since the dial up days, and Modus and his staunch defense of winmodems came to mind. 🙂

I'm happily surfing along on my Motorola cable modem. 😉
 
There must still be enough 56K external Sportster modems floating around that you could pick up for cheap instead of a winmodem. Wal-Mart sells a $30 PCI internal hardware modem too.
 
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