Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!amdcad!ames!ncar!boulder!sunybcs!bingvaxu!leah!itsgw!batcomputer!cornell!rochester!ur-tut!syap
From: syap@ur-tut (James Fitzwilliam)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Practical Peripherals 2400 baud modem
Summary: Great box - get it.
Message-ID: <2050@ur-tut.UUCP>
Date: 13 May 88 11:52:59 GMT
References: <8805102222.AA06290@decwrl.dec.com>
Reply-To: syap@tut.cc.rochester.edu (James Fitzwilliam)
Organization: Gadgetland USA
Lines: 74

In article <8805102222.AA06290@decwrl.dec.com> long@mosaic.dec.com (Now HE will ask the questions!) writes:
*
*  can anyone comment on the Practical Peripherals 2400 baud modem being
*offered by MacConnection for, I think, $189?  

I've had one for several months.  Absolutely love it.

*  I'd like to buy a 2400 baud modem soon, and am concerned about the
*following things:
*
*  - AT command set compatiblility.

It's 100% (at least :) Hayes compatible, except that it doesn't have a
DTR light (strange but inconsequential), and this compatibility is
guaranteed.

*  - noise immunity.

Excellent so far.  I'd blame the remote, not the modem, in every case
where I've gotten garbage.  Seems to work great with xmodem; so far I
haven't had Red Ryder trip into the time-out "loop of death" that I
dreaded with my old 1200 unit.

*  - ability to do pulse or tone dialing.

This is standard Hayes.  No problems here.

*  - and, most important, the ability to mix pulse and tone in the
*same dial command.  for example, the command I use to log into the

Again, standard Hayes, and it does it.  It has the nice dial string
modifiers that let you wait for a tone or several seconds of silence
before proceeding; great for dialing 9 from your office, long-distance
services, etc. etc.  There are also non-volatile memories for your
favorite telephone numbers.

*Any help is appreciated; I'd like to keep the amount under $200.

$192.00 delivered from MacConnection overnight.  Can't beat it.

Made of plastic, but solid.  5-year warranty.  Longish footprint
(same length as my hard disk) but, on the other hand, all the
connections are in the rear, all the lights in front, something
Popcom hasn't figured out yet!  (:  The "feet" are placed so you can
shove it back on your desk as far as your Mac.

When I got mine discount offers for The Source and CompuServe were
included.  My biased recommendation is that you ignore these and sign
up on GEnie.  (:


The only thing that bugs me about the unit is the nice non-volatile
configuration memory.  The things it lets you permanently store are
the things you aren't likely to want to change (like the pulse-dial
make/break ratio, for the folks in Britain -- get real) or the ones
where you want the factory default 99 times out of 100, for example
Phone Jack Type, Auto Answer Off, Verbose Mode...

The things it _doesn't_ let you store are the ones you're most likely
to tweak, like the dialing pause length, carrier detect delay, escape
character, lost carrier hang-up delay...

Because of this, the configuration memory is completely useless to me.
I blame Hayes for this, not the folks at Practical Peripherals.

This is a trivial complaint, though.  I recommend this unit highly.

                                         James

domain: syap@tut.cc.rochester.edu
  path: rochester!ur-tut!syap             "Piano is my forte"  (-:
 GEnie: FITZWILLIAM

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