On 8 Feb 99, at 10:39, Meidling Keith B SSgt wrote:

> Side question on this, External/Internal, Who prefers what and why???
> Curious as to prefrences and reasons...

  I used to prefer internal modems, for many of the reasons that Larry
Atlow has listed.  [I see enough questions about configuring COM ports,
though, not to buy that port configuration is "simplified"....]

  Historically, there have been several arguments in favour of external
modems:

1.  You can reset the modem without rebooting the computer, if you have
to.  [The probalem has become rare, but still exists.]

2.  You can switch an external modem between machines.  [Not an issue
if you only have one, or only one that you want to connect.  One of my
ongoing projects is to share a single dial-out connection through a
gateway machine, so for now I have my external 56K on a switchbox
between the gateway (for testing) and my workstation (for standalone
net access until I get the gateway set up.]

3.  External modems have more indicator LEDs.  [This is really only
useful if you know what they mean, but can be helpful in diagnosing
problems.  I can also put various RS232 diagnostic equipment between
the modem and the computer.]

4.  What finally won me over was that when you buy an external modem,
you're almost certainly getting dedicated hardware that will run with
any OS you choose, rather than something that will only work with the
OSes for which the manufacturer provides drivers (that do some of the
work).

  Put this message and Larry's side-by-side, and you'll see that each
has its own advantages.  You're going to have to determine which things
are important to *you*.


David G

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