US Robstic external FAX modem for $70 @ Bestbuy B&M - free v.92 upgrade?

[Wei2Cool]

Saw a couple of them on clearence this week @ BestBuy B&M.

Read about US Robostic will soon release a free firmware upgrade for their v.90 to V.92, couldn't find anything on their web site yet.

V.92 has many new features very useful for dial-up users. Two things significant, faster upstream (33k to 48k?), and modem on hold (allows you to take phone calls while stay connected to ISP).

Sounds like a deal?

 

[Sparty]

just check here here to see if you qualify for a free V.92 upgrade.

Does anyone know if the "Gaming Modem" USR came out with last year is "REALLY" any better that a standard USR hardware modem???

 

[newswatcher]

It appears your ISP has to be compatible for the v.92 upgrade, i.e.
their servers must be v.92 as well:

"*The new V.92 enhancements may not immediately be available with all Internet service providers. Contact your service provider to find out when they will be updating their servers to include V.92 technology. U.S. Robotics modems featuring the new V.92 enhancementss are backward compatible and will negotiate the highest possible speed when connecting to an Internet service provider."

 

[anazoal]

If you have a Lucent LT Winmmodem (or Lucent LT chipset) you can upgrade to V.92. See this for more info.

 

[Midnight Rambler]

The upgrade for the external (005686-03) is available ... approx. 6.3MB

 

[valno600]

This is pathetic. Don't you modem guys ever quit. The next generation is here, it is called broadband. Oh well I guess not everyone can afford it, so I guess modem as OK.

Sorry

 

[sygyzy]

Woohoo, I cannot wait til I upgrade my modem for those slow weeks (i.e Winter and Spring Break)

 

[demenion]

Umm.. I wish broadband was available in my area ..

 

[Pliablemoose]

ARGH, just moved to an area where I had to give up my free DSL through ETrade, and go back to dial-up, my new ISP says they have no plans on upgrading to V.92

 

[MrBond]

Indeed, broadband is not available in many areas, and for those of us who are gamers, satallite broadband is not an option. This IS a good deal on a modem, USR makes the best you can buy.

Besides, even with broadband here at school, I still use my modem on occasion.

 

[Fritzo]

They were $79.50 here for the external versions...EXCELLENT deal. And yes, the V.92 upgrade will be free to all owners of V.90 USR modems. Your ISP has to support V.90 however.

 

[bigdoggy]

Zoom has some 49 dollar versions.

 

[freedom]

I tried to upgrade my usr 005686-03 ,but didin't see any difference,is it a usr joke or what??

 

[z0ner]

freedom, read newswatchers post.

 

[Fritzo]

I work for a large ISP and can tell you most of the code for the RAS equipment won't be available for a while yet (at least for Lucent Portmasters and Siemens modem banks). It's going to be like V.90....it'll take a year before everyone starts supporting it.

As for the USR gaming modem question....no....it's no better than a regular USR hardware modem.

 

[dirtrat]

Isn't it amazing how so many people think that Broadband is available everywhere? valno600, you really need to think before you post next time! I would kill to get a faster connection, my only other option is to move.

 

[Macro2]

No broadband in the Bahamas. Cable TV though. They wanted to give dial up ISPs a chance. Seriously.

 

[Hossenfeffer]

DirecPC is a small option, especially for those folks that don't have any broadband alternatives. If I remember right they have a two-way setup now. As it was, you used a dial-up for your upstream and then got the feed from the dish at a respectable clip.

 

[Dizway]

The gaming modem by 3com/usr stinks. If you really want better ping, give the USR Courier modem a try. You can find the 56k version on eb@y for about $50. Better yet, get 2 of them to use multippp and double your connection.

 

[bambam]

I just upgraded mine. So far seems connect speeds are less - uh ?

 

[Dizway]

That happend when they upgraded from x2 to v.90. they said that the reason why connection speed dropped is because it was reading the speed more accurately. how much did your speed drop?

 

[funks]

USR Support and USR in general sucks.

I have 4 of their USR Courier V.Everything Modems which are the 25 MHZ variant (needs a firmware enabler updater thingy for V.90 which rewrites the id string to include V.90). I'm trying to upgrade them to V.90 but they state that they can't because they don't offer it anymore to the couriers. Basically the 1-800-USR-IWANT56 doesn't work anymore, and totalservices.usr.com doesn't work anymore. They basically EOL'fed the couriers. They won't even give out the program to enable the V.90 string on these modems even though they EOL'd them. (before, they charged 60$ to enable V.90, what a crock)..

Funks

 

[LiQiCE]

If you goto USR's web page, the latest Firmware upgrade is available from their website for the V.Everything. I'm not sure if this will upgrade your modem to v.90, but it does list v.90 as an available upgrade. The upgrade is from 1998 though ... Try this
Link and see if it enables v.90 ... It is for the 25Mhz V.Everything Couriers ... Personally I love my courier .. I have the 20Mhz version, I bought it all the way back when 28.8 was the fastest, and I've upgraded it since then to 33.6, x2, and then v.90 .. all for free from US Robotics (they offered for a limited time free upgrades to all of those)! ... Can't go wrong with that for $250 all the way back in 1994 or 1995 ... Can't remember ... I wonder if they'll give me a free upgrade to v.92 too?! ... Doesn't matter much anymore since I've got a cablemodem at home, and fast access through the Network here at school, but I wouldn't mind receiving a free upgrade on my good old modem

 

[funks]

Yeah, I got that, it only let's you upgrade to V.90 if you have the X2 feature set in the ATi7 string. Mine doesn't have the X2 feature set even though it's the newer 25 MHZ version.

A while ago, they had an upgrade for the 25 MHZ couriers -> V.90 by 1-888-IWANT56, but that line pretty much says the upgrade is now over..

 

[CURLYnoodle]

Well.. for those of you that dont have broadband in your area... you could do what i did...

Find what areas have HSD, and move! Somethings in life are too important not to have....

A decent connection is one of them!

regards,

noodle