Re: Modem problems / Crappy modems

Don Lashier (dl@newportnet.com)
Sat, 23 Aug 1997 17:14:01 -0700

I totally agree. Less than 2% of my customers have had modems that
wouldn't connect. Invariably they were brand-x rockwells, winmodems,
or Mwaves. I tell them "don't expect a Yugo to drive like a Mercedes -
or to last as long - it only costs about $20 more to buy a decent modem".
If you run a good service and have loyal customers they'll replace the
modem rather than switch to another provider.

When customers ask what modem to buy, I tell them to buy any name
brand and avoid winmodems at all cost. I specifically recommend
Motorolas and US Robotics and have never had a problem with any of
them connecting. I use Motorolas, IMHO the *only* company that
understands modems - too bad they're building them with Rockwell
chips now :(

Don

On 08/23/97, at 05:23 PM, Ron Long wrote:
>I just have to throw my two cents in here. When my customers complain
>about poor connections, our drill starts at "What brand of modem do you
>have installed in your machine?" If they have some "crappy" modem, we
>start the generic troubleshooting process and when that is exhausted, in
>a very nice way, I simply tell them. We charge a premium price for a
>premium service. We invest in state-of-the-art terminal servers to
>answer your calls. As technology moves forward, your "crappy" modem
>will continue to degrade in performance. At some point, you will need
>to invest in "quality" equipment for your side of the connection if you
>want all the bells and whistles you've read about in PC Magazine.
>
>I keep modems in the office and offer them for sale to the customers.
>This fixes the "crappy" modem issue and lets us add yet another source
>of revenue. Now, sometimes of course we eat a little crow when they buy
>a modem from us and they still have problems connecting, but then it is
>ALWAYS the Telco's fault :)
>
>This "crappy" modem issue did not begin with the 56K cards and the PM3's
>it has been a factor for a long time. Our customers see the ads in the
>magazines and want their 10$ modems to perform like a 249$ modem. Well,
>you get what you pay for.
>
>There may indeed be some bugs that need to be worked out by LE with the
>current code but that will never replace the "crappy" modem on the
>client side. I don't have anything to compare LE against, but I have
>seen the hate mail about remote access products from other mfg's. I
>think it is safe to assume that all ISP's, regardless of their equipment
>(Cisco, Ascend or whoever) will continue the battle of the "Crappy
>Modem"
>
>
>
>--
>Ron Long
>WNSC

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don Lashier dl@newportnet.com
Newport Internet http://www.newportnet.com/