Re: tlug: Re: ISDN problems

[Scott Stone <sstone@example.com>]

On Mon, 9 Nov 1998, Chris Sekiya wrote:

> On Mon, 9 Nov 1998, Scott Stone wrote:
> 
> > yeah, USR has their own extension to the Hayes AT command set, which
> > personally I think *everyone* should use - USR did a really fantastic
> > job, and I love their modems.
> 
> Add the USR Sportster to the long list of "things Chris doesn't like".
> The old, pre-1996 Sportster was good (the 83900 model, if anyone cares).
> When they did the cost-reduction versions (the 83901 and 83902 models),
> they flushed quality down the toilet[1].

I don't see '8390x' anywhere on any of my 3 internal sportster 33.6k
modems here.  Where would I find this?  they all say 'Copyright 1995' on
the back, though.  they also all have stickers saying '550 6345 A'.

> 
> I will _never_ purchase, nor recommend that anyone else purchase, another
> USR product based on the nasty experiences with their hardware and their
> technical support.

Their tech support is kind of lame, yes.  But the modems are self
documenting (AT$, AT&$ give you complete AT command references from a
terminal), so I can do my own tech support.  modems aren't that complex :)

> 
> -- Chris
> 
> [1] The ISP that I was working for had about two hundred Sportsters spread
>     among four dialup pools.  The 83900s (of which we had about sixty)
>     were rock-solid.  The 83901s couldn't talk to anything except another
>     83901 (thirty of these).  The 83902s (the rest of the modem pool) were
>     randomly flakey.  Turns out that the firmware was botched.  Guess
>     which model had soldered-in firmware?

Mine don't seem to have soldered-in firmware.. at least they all have at
least one removable chip on them.

--------------------------------------------------
Scott M. Stone <sstone@example.com, sstone@example.com>
Head of TurboLinux Development/Systems Administrator
Pacific HiTech, Inc (USA) / Pacific HiTech, KK (Japan)


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