rrAt 05:21 PM 4/9/98 -0700, Steve Woolley wrote:
>This past Tuesday, my ISP upgraded all their modems to V.90.  Ever since, my
>connect speed has dropped (my modem is a USR 56K V.34 internal).  This
>reduction in speed is consistent and I've yet to achieve the speeds I got
>prior to their upgrade.  My ISP says that I need to upgrade my modem to
>V.90.  Does anyone know if a V.90 upgrade is available?  Any reference to it
>is nowhere to be found on USR's site.  Any feedback on this would be most
>appreciated!


Steve,

  The v.90 standard is being rushed to the stores now.  It should be
on the shelves by this weekend and flash upgrades for USR's  X2
56K modems has been promised in 30 days.  This standard is suppose
to allow the two competing 56K technologies ( X2 & Flex) be accessed
by one protocol, the v.90.

   Why the scurring rush to find a result for the 56K problems and to
sell this new v.90 technology as fast as possible???   It is now considered
the last modems that will be sold...  the end of modem technology...
currently the US's telephone companies are moving rapidly to take over
the ISP business with the NEW DSL (often referred to as ADSL) service.
This requires no modem, all hardware is provided by the phone company
and 256K is the slowest speed available (512K &  768K speeds are offered
for under $90 a month).   The future of internet access is by ADSL...  with
unlimited access at 256K ADSL, you have a private IP address, no modem
connection, just turn on your computer and you are online, (much like a
network.   This is the same reason that networking companies are dumping
10kbs network cards and hubs...  the move it to 100kbs NICS and hubs.


Phoenix has been online with this technology for months.  There are other
cities going online with it right now, (Drew Dunn, my Co-List Owner, is
connected with the 256K service now for $40 a month).
    http://www.uswest.com/com/customers/interprise/dsl/

If you want more information about the v.90 service, they have an
excellent URL at:  http://www.v90.com

But, v.90 is not a good investment for the future...  56k technology will
be dead within 18 months...   the flash upgrades for the existing 56K
modems will be available shortly, it will be a good stop gap...

  My opinion...

  Bob Wright