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Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!columbia!rutgers!clyde!cbatt!ihnp4!inuxc!pur-ee!uiucdcs!uiucuxc!clio!berger
From: berger@clio.Uiuc.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.dcom
Subject: Re: Help with selecting site dial-in mo
Message-ID: <3900003@clio>
Date: Sun, 26-Oct-86 15:37:00 EST
Article-I.D.: clio.3900003
Posted: Sun Oct 26 15:37:00 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 27-Oct-86 23:24:50 EST
References: <2151@udenva.UUCP>
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Nf-ID: #R:udenva.UUCP:2151:clio:3900003:000:1279
Nf-From: clio.Uiuc.ARPA!berger    Oct 26 14:37:00 1986


I strongly recommend NEC modems.  

1. Educational institutions get a hefty discount.
2. They're industrial grade modems made to Western Electric
standards.  The filters are 10db better than the cheap plastic
hobby modems (Hayes, US Robotics, etc.).  They meet all 
Bell specifications, although there's a switch to let the modem
meet sloppier tolerances (for full compatibility with the
cheap plastic modems too)
3. They're available in rack mount.  In fact, some models plug
right into a standard Western Electric modem card rack.
4. Hayes command set and MNP error correction are available if
you insist.  I prefer the NEC proprietary autodialing menu.

We have a couple dozen NEC modems of various vintage and model
in the field and on the computer.  They all perform admirably.
Long distance file transfers are error free, and we haven't had a
single modem fail yet.  They're warranted for 5 years.

Contrast this to reports favoring (!) US Robotics modems that have
appeared over the net.  One report favoring the USR product boasted
that they "worked fine", although he pointed out that four out of
twelve were DOA!  Another report claimed "only two or three errors
in a two hour long distance file transfer".  Yuck!

The NEC modems have a variety of self-test features.