U.S. Robotics 56K V90 PCI Performance Pro Faxmodem Dos/NT/Linux

OK, flashback to about a year ago. I moved to a rural area, with marginal, at best, phone line quality. I was using a cheapo $10 lucent v.90 winmodem at the time, and decided that to make the best of what I had (I can't get broadband here) I'd invest in a decent modem. I am an IT industry professional, and the word on the street was USR made a solid, reliable product. So I bought the best PCI modem USR had to offer, the Performance Pro. Connect speed stayed about the same,(around 44K) but throughput doubled. Flash-forward. I recently fried my old USR PP, (oops) and bought a new one. To say the least, I am less than impressed. The new modem connects consistantly at 24K or less, and throughput is equally bad. Driver up-to-date? Yes. Same for Firmware. No amount of init string tweaking, enabling/disabing settings, protocols, etc. will correct. As a sanity check, I reinstalled my cheapo V.90 (I am using it now), and am once again getting reasonable performance, if not what I once had with my OLD USR. I can only conclude that you should seriosly think about buying this modem if you have marginal line quality as I do. USR was once THE source for good modems. I am disappointed to see this has changed.

After reading several of the reviews on this product from other owners of this device I'm a little puzzled. Installation of this modem under Windows was as simple as it can get. Simple plug and play. I have to admit the installation software that comes with it leaves much to desired, but other than that this product delivers. I have yet to connect below 48000 bps and average 49,333. My previous modem never connected above 48k and only averaged 46666 on a good day. I'd rate this 5 stars if it wasn't for the installation software provided.I'm adding the following as a post script since it's been about six months since I purchased this modem and initially reviewed it. As I had noted previously this modem did perform rather well untill recently. Then the problems started....3Com/U.S. Robotics support has been almost nonexistent. The newest drivers are almost 2 years old and don't work any better than the one's supplied on the install disk, that is if you can get it to run in the first place. As of right now I've had to toss it in the garbage since it's useless and have replaced it with a modem from Diamond. I guess if your feeling lucky try it.

I bought this hardware modem a few weeks ago after a bad experience with a software modem. On my Windows XP system, installation was a snap. I inserted the card and turned on the system; the system recognized the card and automatically installed the necessary drivers. I didn't even need to open the enclosed CDs. Since installation, I've consistently connected at 52 kbps. (I can't vouch for similarly trouble-free installation under Linux, DOS, NT, etc.)My problem: upgrading the modem to support the V.92 standard. If your ISP also supports the V.92 standard, the upgrade provides your modem with a few neato features, none of which I've tested. However, I did try to upgrade, and that was a pain. You have to know the product id (3CP5610A) rather than the product name to download the upgrade, and you have to use U. S. Robotics' Control Center software to install it. I had no luck with Control Center, so I tried to install the upgrade manually. Eventually, I succeeded, but without the help of U. S. Robotics: their website provided no useful information. This may not be representative of their software and technical support in general, but I took it as a bad omen.In short, in my experience, the hardware is good, but the software and the technical support are bad. Buy this only if you're willing to rely on your system (or your wits) to perform the installation.

This is an excellent modem for a power-user. I havea complex system with both win95 and Linux. The modeminstalled, got configured and worked right away with nohitch whatsoever. And I've tried about 5 others whichwould fail to work properly even in Windows.This modem is a great performer and saps no processingpower from the CPU. It's a real hardware modem not likethe cheap, windows-only ones which unfortunately haveflooded the market and make finding a good hardware onevery, very tough. Be glad that this modem still exists.Any time you replace an internal modem you are asking forhassles. So most people's comments in that regard arecompletely unjustified. Buy an external modem if you wanta slacker's life. Buy this one if you want the bestpossible internal modem that works with any operatingsystem.

If you're looking for a modem that will run under windows, and linux, from a company with a reputation for being known as making great modems....This is the one for you. It connects regularly at 45 kbps, and rarely connects at 40 kbps. This modem is great for DOS also. While running Linux, I can connect at 45 kbps. This is an all around great modem for anyone who is looking to upgrade their modem with their linux, or just to upgrade their modem for their windows.

Installed with absolutely no hassle. Connect rate jumped from 49.0 KB/sec (using another brand x2 modem) to constant 52+ speed. Download time jumped from varying 5.3 to 4.7 KB/sec to a steady constant 5.7 and higher.....as yet has not dropped below 5.7...including the download of Office XP SP1 (less than an hour) and Web Cam update file (20 meg plus) in just slightly over an hour. Quick connect and fast page displays. Excellent modem!