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Re: [hylafax-users] "Best" Fax Modem



On 2004.08.09 10:24 "Williams, Jeff" wrote:
All:

We have pretty much decided that our USR Sportster modems aren't going
to
cut it once we start using our HylaFax server to send faxes to our
customers.  Does anyone have a recommendation about a really good
modem that
is going to be able to communicate reliably with 99% of the fax
machines out
there?

Well, this...


(I realize forming an accurate answer probably depends upon all sorts
of
parameters I have not stated, like class 1/2/2.0, ECM or non-ECM, etc.
 If
anyone wants to suggest a better framing of the general question,
please
do.)

... is a very correct statement. Reliablity depends heavily upon the supported featureset, the manufacturer involvement, the chipset, and what "Class" is used. So let me answer your question this way:


(All of my comments are about analog devices. I'm not commenting about digital here.)

HylaFAX in Class 1/1.0 is generally going to support more features than the modem's firmware will support in Class 2/2.0/2.1. In most cases HylaFAX's own fax protocol support in Class 1/1.0 is going to be more reliable than the modem's firmware support in Class 2/2.0/2.1. Currently the only exception to this latter statement of which I know is with MultiTech modems, as MultiTech seems to take great efforts to keep their own fax code in their current modems working well. So you certainly want to get a modem that at least supports Class 1. Don't get a modem that only supports Class 2.

The only two manufacturers of which I am aware that actively support fax development in their modems are MultiTech and MainPine. So current modems made by these manufacturers are usually better supported than you will get otherwise. That said, many "old" modems in Class 1 don't really need any support, anyway, because they work perfectly well as-is. Also, to be aware, the DSP chipset manufacturer support also plays a part in this equation. Not counting soft-modems the chipset manufacturers of which I have experience are Agere (old Lucent), Conexant (old Rockwell), Texas Instruments, 3Com, and Analog Devices. To my perspective, Agere seems more repsonsive to the faxmodem market than the rest. However, Conexant has some very robust DSP code already, so their code doesn't need much support anyway. The rest of the chipset manufacturers seem ambivalent to the faxmodem market.

As mentioned, the chipsets of which I know are Agere (found on MultiTechs, MainPines, and Zooms), Conexant (found on lots old modems with Rockwell chips, MultiTech, Comtrol, Best Data, Equinox, etc.), Texas Instruments (found on old "USR clones" and old USR modems), 3Com (found on new USR modems), Analog Devices (found on Digi modems). Agere has some good DSP code and it works well, but arguably it's not as good as the Conexant code, but in all fairness to Agere, I think that if there is any difference it is negligible, and since Agere code supports more faxmodem features (V.34-Fax) than Conexant code does it more than compensates for any difference.

I know that may yet be a vague response. See the link below.

I did look at the FAQs on hylafax.org, but the modem-specific
information
seemed a bit dated (circa 1999).

Updated information about modems is found here:


http://www.hylafax.org/howto/install.php#ss2.1

Lee.

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