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From: dave@PRC.Unisys.COM (David Lee Matuszek)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.hardware
Subject: Re: Modem for Classic recommendations wanted
Message-ID: <16572@burdvax.PRC.Unisys.COM>
Date: 20 Feb 91 14:51:38 GMT
References: <41024@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Sender: news@PRC.Unisys.COM
Organization: Unisys Corporation, Paoli Research Center; Paoli, PA
Lines: 43

In article <41024@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> dagnall@sandstorm.Berkeley.EDU (Robert Dagnall) writes:
>
>	Very soon now I should receive my new Mac Classic from the 
>clogged channels of the campus Apple distributor.  I wish to get
>a modem and communications software to go with it, and I'd like 
>your recommendations.  

I recently bought both the $99 Power User 2400 baud modem and the $145
Smart One 2400/1200 Modem, both from MacWarehouse.  Both function
entirely adequately.

The $99 modem is supposed to come with MacKnowledge communications
software, but in fact it comes with a crippled demo version that I
found to be worthless; it can't even be used for downloading.  [Shame
on you, MacWarehouse, for misleading advertising!]  The power switch
is on the front, a brilliant and innovative idea that I wish other
manufacturers would copy.  The LEDs are behind a black plastic cover
with clear letters in it, and are a little hard to read.

The $145 modem has a somewhat more complete subset of the Hayes
instruction set, and is in a nicer (albeit larger) box, but the power
switch is in the back.  It comes with QuickLinkII software, which
doesn't have much in the way of fancy features, but what it has,
works; I now use it almost exclusively.  Oh yeah, the modem comes with
a Prodigy startup kit (whoop-de-do).

Both modems come with appropriate cables.  (Don't buy a modem without
a cable unless you LIKE hassles.)  As I say, both work fine, so I'd
recommend the $145 modem if you need communications software, the $99
one if you don't.  [Prodigy startup kits are a dime a dozen, so even
if you want to get onto the net known primarily for its censorship,
this shouldn't be a consideration.]


-- Dave Matuszek (dave@prc.unisys.com)  I don't speak for my employer. --
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|   When I was young, my family bought a color TV.  Our neigbors, who   |
| were poorer, had only a black-and-white set.  They bought a piece of  |
| cellophane, red on top, yellow in the middle, and blue on the bottom, |
| and taped it over their screen, so they could claim that they had a   |
| color TV, too.                                                        |
|   Now there's Windows 3.0.                                            |
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