3Com 56k Voice Internal PCI

Software modems are those that use software (not surprisingly) in Windows 95/98 to sort out the binary data that travels into your modem from the outside world... The 3Com USR Winmodem is a bad choice for gamers. I can say that from the start. It is a very cheap and basic modem, that is hyped to be very good. This is due to the fact that it utilises the computer processor rather than chips on the modem board itself. This is all very well for web browsing and downloading, with quite good performance. However this is not the same in games... During online games, a huge amount of data is sent and received by your modem. If the modem is a software modem, it ...  Read the complete review

I bought one of these modems as a replacement for an old 33.6 external that had died. I fancied an internal as my computer tends to get moved around a bit, and thought that having less kit to drag around and one less thing to plug in was be handy. However, the modem cuased nothing but trouble. On installing it, I found it would freeze the computer completely every time I tried to dial. I thought I may have an IRQ conflict, but spending hours booting in and out of safe mode, and trying everything I could did nothing. Thinking it must be faulty, I took it back for a replacement. The next one though gave me a completely different set of faults. Although it installed ...  Read the complete review

I couldn't disagree more with the above review. I have used US Robotiics / 3 com modems for 5 years without a single problem. My current modem is a 56K Flex model. I installed the card myself on a P II 233. It was easy and the instructions were clear and simple to follow. The process itself was faultless. The installation software was excellent and everything worked first time, just as it should. The technial documentation with the modem is OK, nothing more, but they have a very good web site and you can download updates. I regularly get the latest drivers and again have had no problems at all. The product itself has been ...  Read the complete review

Sad to say, the days of the hardware ISA modem is gone. It is true, I would take my 33.6 ISA modem configured for COM2 any day over a 56k PCI modem, but I don't have an ISA slot in my machine (as is the case with most new PC's). The dirty truth is that all PCI modems are clock-cycle robbing winmodems and never as stable as an ISA modem. Part of the reason for poor performance in winmodems is the IRQ that they take. Most winmodems, and this one is no different, take a non-standard COM port such as 5 and an IRQ of 9 or 10. All Hardware ISA modems can be configured for COM2 IRQ 3. I am sure that we are all aware that the device with the lowest IRQ ...  Read the complete review