Modem Success Stories With Linux?

lasindi writes "Whenever I install Linux, I have trouble with the modem (unfortunately I'm stuck on dial-up). On the first installation, I found out it was a Winmodem and when I tried the solutions and drivers offered by linmodems.org, it still wouldn't work. I finally got an Intel PCI modem, but Intel only provides drivers that work on the 2.4 kernel. I have also have a Conexant modem lying around, but I found out that the only drivers that work for it are provided by Linuxant. These drivers, however, cost money (unless you want to crawl along at 14.4 Kbps for free) and are closed-source. I've found that, although I have five modems, I can't run any of them at full speed under the 2.6 kernel. I would like to know how common such problems are and how Slashdotters have gotten around them."

Comments

Re:external modem with dhcp

[dr_leviathan]

It was an "Actiontec Dual-PC External Modem".

Here's a link to the gadget info:

http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec.hmx?scriteri a= 3314314

Here's a link to the slashdot article where I learned about it:

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/09/01/0245 25 7&mode=thread&tid=106&tid=137&tid= 185

USR 5610B from Wal*Mart

[msonic]

This is a hardware modem, requires no drivers, I am using it on 2.6.6 now. Downside is it costs $60

You get what you pay for

[hankaholic]

I used to work tech support for a mid-sized ISP, and we used to take calls from unhappy Winmodem users constantly. No matter what your OS, don't waste your time with a Winmodem -- it's just not worth the time and hassle.

You probably spent at least a few hundred dollars on your computer, perhaps much more. Chances are, you'll be spending some time online with it. For many people, web browsing is their computer's primary use, but they insist on using a $13-on-Pricewatch modem (usually the one installed by the manufacturer -- Gateway, this means you!) to dial up.

Buy a US Robotics (or 3COM) modem, and spend at least $80 for it. Yes, I know that you can buy an HSP Micromodem for $8 on eBay, but as long as your computer can handle running IE (or Firefox, etc.) your modem is the single greatest influence on your dialup experience.

This goes for any operating system. Linux users are often forced into such a choice by the fact that Winmodems are rarely supported, and never work well.

Many here say "buy an external modem" -- initially, all modems were external, and plugged into a computer's serial port. This worked well, because serial ports are standard hardware, and no special drivers were required at all.

Modern quality modems (such as an $80+ 3COM) have a built-in serial port -- picture a serial port with a modem plugged into it, all contained within an ISA or PCI card. This is why they work so well, as dedicated hardware does what it was meant to do, and has been doing well for years.

Winmodems are like the bargain-basement "shared memory" video cards often shipped with home systems. Such video cards have no memory of their own, and consume system RAM for video memory. Similarly, software modems consume force the CPU to emulate an actual modem. While the CPU is a general-purpose computing device, it simply isn't a DSP, and isn't meant for signal processing. This means that it's less than efficient at processing signal data, and you'll notice the inefficiency in dropped connections.

Anecdotally, I once convinced a friend at my ISP to disable the auto-disconnect feature for my account. I was connected through a 33.6k US Robotis modem for 29 days before a power outage interrupted the connection. Soon after, I switched to broadband, but every winmodem user who has ever complained to me about dropped connections while refusing to shell out money for a real modem still brings a smile to my face.

I know I'm repeating myself here, but ANYONE USING DIALUP UNDER ANY OPERATING SYSTEM OWES IT TO THEMSELVES TO SPEND $80 OR MORE FOR A MODEM. And a PCI 3COM card (not a Winmodem -- again, be sure it's a hardware modem) will work fine under Linux. It'll show up as a serial port.

(Why $80? Sure, you may find a hardware modem for $75, but $80 should be a high enough bar to weed out even the priciest of Winmodems.)

Ask for "A modem with a UART"

[yuri benjamin]

When I built a firewall from scrap parts (P166, 500Mb Harddrive) I emailed a whole bunch of computer hardware to ask for a non-window modem.
I phrased my request like this:
"PCI internal modem with a real UART that appears as a serial (COMx) port without any drivers"

The clueless sales people who answer emails at some vendors got themselves struck off my list, while the cluefull ones replied that they knew what I meant but didn't have any - except for one vendor who guessed I most be running linux, and had one in stock. It cost me 45NZ$ (About 25US$) - they're more expensive than other modems because they have all the hardware to modulate and demodulate without using the cpu.

One you insert the real modem inside the PC and reboot, then type:

dmesg | grep tty

you'll get a message like

ttyS4 is a 16650A

or something like that. That would mean that the modem is at /dev/ttyS4. Yours may be ttyS3.
The hard part is finding a real PCI modem, cause not many places sell them. If you phrase your request like I did you're more likely to get the real thing.