Re: flexfax: are 3Com/USR 56K's just plain hopeless ?

[Damian Ivereigh <damian@cisco.com>]

I think the key thing to remember about USR modems is that they seem to
have various version levels each having various bugs and problems, some
I believe even work really well.

So when you get a config file from somewhere for a USR modem, it may or
may not work for you.

One thing that seems to work best for many people is switching to class
1 operation. The main difference being how much work the modem does, vs
how much the host machine has to do (class 1 turns off most of a modems
intelligence, and passes more of the protocol control back to the host
machine).

Class 1 is fine if the machine is lightly loaded and or doesn't have
much fax traffic, however if it does you may get into trouble. Most
modems designed for use by a PC, are class 1 - after all a win95 PC
doesn't really have much else to do when sending a fax except wait for
the modem. A unix machine is very different beast.

I should add that my personal experience with USR modems isn't that
great - I tried them, they didn't work, so I grabbed a MultiTech modem
and it worked.

So really using USR modems come down to how much is your time worth. If
someone's paying you to do this, then the price of a MultiTech is way
lower than the cost of your time to get a USR to work. If your a
student, have lots of time, no money and enjoy an intellectual
challenge, then maybe the USR is for you. :-)

Damian