March 1997 / BYTE Hardware Lab Report

13 Modems: Fast for the Web Speedy Web Modems	What's speed got to do with it? Everything. - by Andrew Froning and Helen Holzbaur
Best Overall: 33.6-Kbps Modems	The U.S. Robotics Courier V.Everything, the fastest modem in NSTL's performance tests, is also the Best Overall winner.
Software: Bundle or Burden?	You shouldn't choose a modem just because of its bundled software, but you shouldn't leave it completely out of your buying decision, ei ther.
Modem Ratings Best Overall: U.S. Robotics Courier V.Everything/V.34 Best Data Modem: U.S. Robotics Courier V.Everything/V.34 Low-Cost Modem: Zoom Telephonics V.34X Plus U.S. Robotics Courier V.Everything/V.34 U.S. Robotics Courier V.Everything/V.34 Zoom Telephonics V.34X Plus
Details Ever-Ready Phone-Friendly Switch-Hitter	Ever-Ready: One problem with PC telephony products is that you typically must run the PC to use the phone.
Web Use Drives New 56-Kbps Standard	Downloading complex Web pages on even a 28.8-Kbps modem can exhaust anyone's patience.
Test Specs Interoperability Test Results	We requested two modems from every vendor and then used matched pairs for performance testing with a TAS Series II phone-system emulator from Telcom Analysis Systems (Eatontown, NJ).

     article     sideb ar     table     illustration     photo     screen shot