[NTLUG:Discuss] OT help request (solved)

terry trryhend at gmail.com
Wed Nov 19 16:05:22 CST 2008


I assume you are talking about phone modems? ...

On Wed, Nov 19, 2008 at 7:57 AM, Fred <fredstevens at yahoo.com> wrote:

> It was a bad modem driver. Seems that the modem was
> a pull from another system and the driver was from the net,
> for the chipset, sorta, or so the story went. Some people know
> just enough to be dangerous.  I put an external modem on it
> and that one worked just fine with XP's built in driver.
>
> Thanks much to all who responded.
>
> Fred
>
>
It worked just fine  because external modems do not need any driver
software, not because of any built in driver.
In other words:  External modems are stand alone devices - they do not need
any driver software. You plug 'em in and they work.  As long as you have
some sort of communications software that will access the modem and initiate
the dialup connection, you're good to go.

There are actually three different levels or types of modems.  1) External
[stand alone] modems - they usually connect to your PC via modem cable to a
com-port on the back of the computer 2) Internal hardware modems [they are
almost like a stand alone modem because they really don't rely on any driver
software on the computer,  but they are very rare these days] 3) Internal
software modems - kind of like a sound card as far as the device is
concerned but comes with software that actually makes your computer do the
work of the modem.

Software modems are [by far] the most plentiful and are cheaper / less
sophisticated than the others. Internal hardware modems are almost extinct
as far as I know. External modems are most reliable and user friendly and
easy to use.  There is actually a fourth type and that would be the USB
modem.  I don't think there are very many USB modems, not sure really, never
had one, but I've had my fair share of dealings with the others.

I have assumed that  you were talking about phone modems - if not - forgive
the OT response.


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