I am really confused

[Slinky_Wizard]

I am really quite confused. What is a winmodem('cos i've got 1) and are they any good? Also what is x2 and V90??

P.S. Cheers Slime for the 3com link. I got the drivers and my modem works fine. Cheers m8 http://www.wireplay.co.uk/ubb/smile.gif

[Slime]

Slinky,

WINMODEM's are evil, bad, nasty things http://www.wireplay.co.uk/ubb/frown.gif
(generally).

Most of them rely on software to do some of the communications stuff (as opposed to a "proper" modem which will have dedicated hardware chips to handle the comms).

This means that a percentage of your CPU is always taken up doing the comms. This is fine if you are just surfing, but can be fatal if you are trying to play online games. You need your processor to handle the graphics and game, but it's tied up doing the comms. Bad news, and this usually screws your ping/rate to the point where it is unplayable.

To this end, you might get away with using a WINMODEM if you have a very fast CPU. But...it will never be as good as a "proper" modem.

X2 is US Robotics (now owned by 3COM) implementation of the 56k standard. Before the standard was agreed by all parties, modem manufacturuers implemented it as best they could (K56flex is another version implemented
by other companies).

Eventually everybody agreed to handle 56k the same way, and the new standard was called V.90. Therefore, most people with either K56flex or X2 are now upgrading to V.90 (by updating the software in their modems).

WP supports V.90 and X2 (because they also use USR/3COM modem servers), but never supported K56flex.

So...if you buy a new modem, make sure it's V.90 already and you don't have to fart about upgrading it.

Sorry for the long winded reply.......

Cheers
Slime

[Slinky_Wizard]

Cheers Slime. After that nice reply about my evil ******* modem i'm thinking of upgrading (i gotta ping of about 250-300) but i've got no idea of what to get http://www.wireplay.co.uk/ubb/smile.gif I'm thinking of getting a Diamond Supra express thing. Are those good? If not can you point me out any good other modems and how much they cost.

Cheers
Slinky

[Slime]

Slinky,

Not much point in repeating another thread, so check this one out if you haven't already :-

http://www.wireplay.co.uk/ubb/Forum31/HTML/000063.html

It might help you decide which modem to go for.

Cheers
Slime