While Ripco does not endorse any manufacturer or model of modem, we have found some modems to be particularly reliable, and others to be extremely unreliable.

As far as the "X2" or "56K" modems go, as always we only support the real standards for modems, never proprietary vendor-specific protocols, the universal standard is V.90 and is currently in beta testing, scheduled for deployment in late October.

General recommendations

As a general rule, external modems are better than internal. Internal modems seem to break down sooner, and have more noise problems than externals. Externals also have better resale value, and if your phone line gets hit by lightning, it's less expensive to replace an external modem than an entire computer.

Flash-upgradeable modems come in two flavors. Some less-expensive modems allow software upgrading of the firmware code, but not of the DSP code.
Flash-upgradable DSP is a definite plus, as upgrading the DSP code may be necessary to fix some bugs and support new protocols.

Never buy a modem that lists any of the following "features":

• RPI (Rockwell Interface) or HCF (Host Controlled Family) or HSP (Host Signal Processing).
• WinModem or 'Windows Required'
• Compression 'with software drivers'

DO NOT BUY 'X2 Upgradable' modems

We have no intention of ever supporting US Robotics proprietary X2 protocol. we will support the ITU's standard V.90 protocol.

Specific Recommendations

Good Modems

These are the modems Ripco has used in our modem pool in the past, or have personally tested and found to be reliable and fast.
In descending order:

1. 3Com (formerly U.S. Robotics) Courier 33.6 V.everything
   The USR Courier has been the modem of choice for BBS sysops for over a decade. While more expensive (and physically larger) than the competition, the price and space are worth it. Stay away from their cheap cousin, the Sportster.
2. Motorola Power and Premier
   (DISCONTINUED) The Motorola Power, and it's successor, the Premier, is a solid modem, the only complaint we've ever had about this modem is the ugly rounded case design, and the occasional failure to answer correctly, which is why we no longer use them for our dialins. Motorola has disbanded their modem unit and no longer produces this modems.
3. Cardinal MVP288/336
   This Cardinal modem is simple and inexpensive. While they're not pretty, we've not had any problems with these modems.

Bad Modems

• Any modem that came with your computer.
  Come on- they're giving it away for free, what do you think these (usually internal) modems cost the reseller? $20 tops.
• 3Com (USR) Sportster and WinModem
  The most amazing thing about the US Robotics Sportster modem is that such a horrible, unreliable modem can come from the same company that makes the Courier.
• Zoom
  Back when 2400 was the top speed, Zoom made some pretty good modems.
  Since then they have had some good, and some bad. One example of their bad modems is the 'Zoom 2925', which falls under the 'WinModem' diatribe above. The 2919 and 2929 may be okay.
• Any PCI modem using RLVDL56DPF/SP Chipset
  Apparently all currently available PCI interface modems are 'Winmodem' variations (See above).