High Speed, Low Hassle
When my modem arrived, I began my usual nail biting
at the thought of messing with hardware in Windows. I have had
a long heritage of generic hardware that Windows did not enjoy
too much, and unlike other OSes, removing the drivers for hardware
in Windows doesn't always remove them. After popping out my old
(fried) modem, and popping the IGM in, the driver install was
a clean, easy, straight INF file install, and it went without
a hitch (aside from having to move around some IRQ's due to a
dual-drivered sound card).
Now came the fun part, game testing. I tried each
game in normal 56k mode, and then in gaming mode. While it should
be noted that you must switch modes while disconnected
from the net. (Further insight into how the modem works explains
why. For more information, visit 3Com's website.) The first game
I tested, is the logical start, Heavy Gear II, one of the games
that came with the modem. HG2 didn't have much of a problem with
lag, even in standard 56k mode. I did, however, get dropped from
the server twice, as a result of lag. So I reconnected, for my
first time, in gaming mode. I took a look at my connect speed
and noticed something rather interesting. My connect speed was
down from 49333bps to 43000bps. After reconnecting to the server,
I noticed my ping time was down by about 80. In the game, I played
for another hour or so without a single drop.
My second attempt was Total Annihilation: Kingdoms.
This game, I have battled for quite some time with low speeds.
While the original TA didn't have many lag problems on a normal
size map, TA:K always seemed to have choppy unit movement and
attacks. Sure enough, in normal mode, the same problem consumed
my game. After connecting in gaming mode; however, for the first
time ever, I had entirely smooth unit movement, and only one "blink
movement" where the units magically move themselves.
Klingon Academy was next (as it was just in time
for the review.) Lag was
definitely a problem on normal mode, as with any sim, there is
a lot of data that must be transferred. On normal mode, it had
a lot of lag, a lot of ships disappearing and reappearing behind
me, a lot of spontaneous combustions as a result of being hammered
by enemy fire, but losing half of the packets and never knowing
it. It wasn't friendly. Switching to gaming mode, however, I noticed
a huge difference. No longer was my ship jumping from one place
to another, nor were the enemies disappearing and reappearing;
and when they did, it was only a very short difference. Not once
did I "spontaneously" explode.
Now, mentioning that normal mode is severely worse
than gaming mode in most instances, you could begin to think that
the modem is rigged in normal mode. Not the case. In fact, I have
obtained a 56k connection (a 56k connection is defined as any
connection over 33.6kps). Every time, I get either a 48000bps
or 49333bps connection. Now, that varies over different phone
lines and different ISPs, but since my ISP does not use 3Com equipment,
you know that there is no special optimization to get that sort
of connection. My transfer rates for downloads blew my mind as
well. A steady 5.5kps from ftp.gamevisions.com, and a quick load
of some of the pages that always took me the longest to load (such
as www.interplay.com, and the GV news archives) were nice, and
while my previous modem was a 33.6 modem, I have had the opportunity
to sample 56k modems on other line conditions with other ISPs,
and have even been on a dedicated 56k line. The Internet Gaming
Modem out-peaked my top speed on the dedicated line!
One thing that I did have to stop and laugh at is
the information that 3Com gave me. Most hardware companies provide
reviewers a packet of information regarding the technical info
about the product, and in many cases, a packet providing tips
on how to review it, and key points worth looking into. As I opened
the packet, I was presented several pages on how to set up a laboratory
environment to test the modem, including diagrams. This in itself
is not only normal, but typically a very helpful little tid-bit
for benching hardware. The humorous part about this, however,
is that while a laboratory environment is wonderful for things
such as video cards, processors, memory, and the like, as you
want the most general testing setup so it does not focus around
a specific hardware setup, the same is not true for modems. Sure,
one modem can be better than another in a lab where you use solid
gold for wiring couplings and the like, but real world phone lines
and ISPs that will cut costs wherever they can present a very
different set of rules where electricity is concerned, and a unit
that won out in a lab may have an entirely different way of dealing
with line noise etc. The best test for a modem, though the reviewers
lines and ISP may differ greatly from yours, is a real world test.
In this case, for the longest time, I thought my lines were terrible.
It turns out that my lines are fine, my modem was terrible.
Another point of interest is the lack of a manual
that comes with this modem. Even my old cheap 33.6 modem came
with a nice 30 page or so manual giving the different init strings,
jumper settings etc. The 3Com/USR IGM comes only with a fold out
poster with the 5 easy steps of setup, and nice, glossy, color
pictures of the process. Another selling feature to me is something,
that while most Windows gamers may not care about, there is a
large enough crowd that does. This modem is not a Winmodem...it
works happily enough in Linux, or any other Operating system that
doesn't care much about specific modem drivers. While you won't
get gaming mode for Linux, as it is a proprietary driver (and
rightfully so), and 3Com doesn't seem too enthusiastic about writing
a port of the drivers for any other OS, we'll just have to stick
with our regular modem speeds for our Linux games.
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