06-30-91 What You Should Know About 9600 Baud Modems ------------------------------------------- So you have decided to take the Big Plunge and buy a High Speed Modem.. If you call BBS's there is only one Brand of High Speed Modem to Buy.. A US Robitics HST or Dual Standard is the Ticket... Current Average US Robitic's Modem Prices Computer Shopper Price SYSOP Deal HST 14400 with v.42 Latest Model $579 $399 DUAL STANDARD 14400 v32bis v.42bis Latest $839 $499 MODEL The Computer Shopper prices may be lower shop around... To Qualify for USR Sysop Deal you must Be running a BBS for 6 months or longer... USR will Call your BBS they will want to have access to your message base see a list of Users and look at the downloads... Just make it look like alot of activity... Add Users Post messages upload plenty of files Etc... Put USR Dual Coming Soon in your title screen etc... You realy dont have to give them Access to all your msg bases & File sections just dont give them the impression there are bases that they dont have access to. Call USR's BBS at 708-982-5092 and fill out there order form... Setup an account for them and they will call your BBS It may take awhile then shortly there after they will send your modem.. Since USR doesnt take Credit Cards the Fastest way is C.O.D. I think all Sysops should spend the extra $100 and get a Dual... Here is why The resale value of a Dual is better, A dual with do fast Bi-Modem xfers with another dual or v.32 modem, Alot of guys Borrow a v.32 modem from work and will be able to connect to your BBS. Also the USR sysop Modems have Demo Not forsale on the case of the modem and cannot be taken off without destroying part of the case... Dont worry the modem is still the latest & brand new model... If you are not running a BBS and realy dont need v.32 then the HST is fine but if you use a pay service like compuserve or Genie dont be surprised if the go v.32... Ok so you say well why should I spend that kind of cash when I saw a 9600 Baud modem in Computer Shopper for $169 it says it does has throughput of 19200 or 38400 etc... Here is the Scoop 1) Those Cheap 9600 Baud modems only connect at 9600+ baud when calling an Identical modem... 2400 bps is all you will get when you call A USR Modem 2) 95+% off all High Speed BBSes are Running USR Modems.. To get 1650cps on these BBSes you Must own a USR Modem..... 3) Those attractive 9600 Baud v.32/v.42 modem will connect to A USR Dual and will only MAX out at 1100cps some only do 965cps... A few Examples of These modems are UDS Fastalk PP9600 ETC... 4) Stayaway from Telebit Modems (Trailblazers) Hayes modems etc 2400 bps is all you will get when you call A USR Modem Another good feature about USR Modems is if a BBS is running an older USR 9600 HST or Dual you can still connect with them your cps rate will be 1100 cps which is fairly quick.... A few tips about buying a Used USR Modem.... Check the modem out before you Buy it... DO ATI4 or ATI5 From a Term Program and see what it is... If it says US Robitics 14400 then it will do 1650 cps if it says 9600 then its an older modem and will only do 1100cps.. I wouldnt pay more than $250 for a 9600... Some guys never got the v.42 upgrade... Its not realy too important if you realy want it its $50 it only goes in a 14400 HST or Dual... Your realy dont gain any speed with v.42 except on large text files MNP level 5 is fine which is the error correcting before v.42.. The v.42 also falls back to MNP Level 5 when calling HSTs & Duals that dont have v.42... Preparing your IBM for an HST or Dual Use a Modem Cable that has all 25 Pins connected on each side.... This will save alot of time & agravation... most 286 and lower machine & some 386's have an interupt problem when using High Speed Modems... This can be solved very easily buy getting a Serial Port with a 16550 Uart chip installed... 16550's can be easily purchased for $15 - $20 and replace socketed 8250 UARTS... The most reliable 16550's are 16550afn or 16550an. Internal USR modems allready have a 16550 in them Setting NRAMS Most High Speed USR BBSes will have a NRAM Setter and or Text Files that will tweek your modem and will get it running at top speed... Ask a Sysop for a copy of his NRAMS most sysops who know what they are doing will give you good settings... Last But not Least if you need more info on USR Modems Call 800-Dial-USR Monday - Friday Business Hours and ask them anything... They are very friendly and will answer your Questions. Please Excuse my Typing its Late and I am tired... I am tired of seeing BBS users getting Ripped off Pissed off & Dissapointed when they cant connect at those screaming Baud rates. Rowdy Roddy Piper We Didnt Forget you Amiga People A Bulletin From Doc's House BBS Columbus Ohio HST 14.4 V.42b Setting for High Speed Transmission This Bulletin started as a message to a member. I have captured it to a bulletin to help those with the HST 14.4 V.42bis. chips. If you have a specific problem not answered herein, please leave PUBLIC MAIL. I will answer your questions and hopefully remember to modify this file for future reference of others. Remember this BULLETIN ASSUMES: 1. You have the NEW serial.device and use either ANSIcomm or AZcomm V2.5. Online, JRcomm or other packages have not proven to date to be either as fast or reliable. HST 14.4 (without V.42bis)-use following except use &K0 HST settings for 14.4 V.42bis atz >ok (Pause)...More(y/n/ns)? ns atB1C1E1F1M1Q0V1X4&W >ok at&A0&B1&C1&D2&G0&H1&I0&J0&K3&L0&M4&W >ok at&P0&R2&S0&X1&Y1S11=38S21=001S26=000S15=008&W >ok INTERNATIONAL SETTINGS: atb0&W This is to accept the guard tones from European, Canadian and other V.32 except Bell...uses CCITT standards. SYSOPS: In modem setup string on CONFIG1 Screen 3, set G2 at the end. This is necessary with Great Britain and other European systems that use different guard tones. Using these setting will not affect U.S. Callers whatsoever normally. You may find that you have to set HST register S28=013 to allow a longer time sequence in the answering of both US and European callers, but that it otherwise will not affect anything. Remember, LD means "long distance". So expect rates to vary from far away places. At times European friends do 1650-1700 cps.....other times the ARQ and CS lights will play "blinkem". Hey, it's a long call and a lot of interconnections between here and there so expect that the connec- tion can sometimes not be 100% and be low dB or noisy. ************************************************************************ 1. The above was broken into 3 lines of code due to the length of the complete reset and assumes you issue the ATZ command from your terminal program (AZcomm, JRcomm, etc) 2. DO NOT EVER RESET USING.....AMIMODEM, TARSET, or similar command NRAM setter as previous setting conflict with the new V.42bis settings and cause serious degradation. 3. ISSUE: ATI5 and ATI4 commands to confirm that NRAMS and current settings are to these values....others should be to listed factory default values. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ PREFERENCES: 1. RATE 19,200 baud 2. F8N1 3. RTS/CTS handshaking (MANDATORY!!!!) 4. Buffering 4K--->try reducing to 2K after initial trials if rate below 1640cps or if SD/TR/CS/RS lights blink with an established V.42bis system that is known to operate correctly. NOTE: If you have a "slow HD" you may have to use a larger buffer to avoid delays due to the HD write time. 14ms is a "fast" HD and 28ms is a "reasonable speed" if you have it optimized as to interleave and priority. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- OS: CAUTION: IF YOU DON"T KNOW DOS...DO NOT MESS AROUND IN THESE AREAS!!!! This is specific instructions for experienced people only!!!! MS-DOS: You may wish to use 38.4K DME/DTE and work closely with the optimization of interleaves on HDrives as MS-DOS does not easily allow TASK PRIORITY HANDLING like a multi-task system. 1. TASKPRI CHANGES a. HD, Term, HD handler (SCSI) should all be at Taskpri 12 (use artm and set approx 3 below BUS or 7 below input.device) 2. b. IF u/d to ram:....use ASDG VDK:/VD0: recoverable dynamic "ram" being certain to change the taskpri to 12 ========================================================================== Notes: 1. If done correctly your modem should not "blink" in d/ling every 7-11K while writing to HD/ram: and should continuous receive/send data. If you have sporatic loss of RD/CS lights, this is due to delays between buffer and writes from DME/DTE. If SD/RS lights "wink" then you are not loading and sending data.....again check taskpris and DME/DTE linking. 2. In ALL CASES: TR and MR should be SOLID RED!! 3. Wavering ARQ or SYN.....or a shifting lights where AA and possibly RD/SD go erratic indicate a severe system malfunction and setup failure. CAVEATS: 1. Some modems which are non-HST which have MNP Level 5 9600 will be unable to properly connect with the &M4&K3. These you can only call at 2400 and are likely to be university sites, businesses or other 9600 MNP-5 users. From your terminal issue: AT&K0&M4 -this should establish a clear 2400 connection. *******Don't forget to reset to AT&K3&M4 upon DISCONNECTING*******