I have still not installed Apple's Modem Update 2.0 on my PowerBook. While some users report significant performance upgrades with the update 2.0, others report disaster -- mainly that if the update program hangs or quits unexpectedly during the firmware upgrade process, your modem is toast. Most of the unhappy reports I've seen are from PowerBook owners.

MacFixIt is running a thread on this topic that is worth a look before deciding to take the plunge and install Modem Update 2.0. A recent posting highlighted another problem, that I would be interested in hearing if other users have experienced

Jon Mayes from the UK reported that: "After applying the update, users now find that the modem enforces gaps of 30 seconds between dial attempts and then 'blacklists' the number after 10 attempts to dial it without success. This was not the case with the previous version. This would be disaster for me on a poky, rural dial-up connection, where I have been obliged on (rare) occasions to dial as many as 50 times in orfer to log on.

On the other hand, Applelinks readers Alan and Virginia Sill write:

Worked great for us on both the Powerbook Firewire used at work by Alan and on the home rev B iMac (much earlier vintage) used at home.

These "problem reports" are often overblown on this type of update, and if you wait for perfection, you may wait forever. MacFixit in particular is often guilty of posting a few isolated incidents of users having problems (usually on nonstandard hardware, e.g. the user who was running an external USB modem at the same time as trying to put in the Apple modem updater). This tends to create the impression of a problem even where one does not exist, as probably is the case here.

Alan Sill and Virginia Sill

And Roy Rhodes writes:

Charles,

FYI, I installed the updater last weekend in my Wallstreet G3 300 and was very pleasantly surprised at the results. I now connect without getting dropped nearly every time. Before, it would often take a dozen or more attempts just to stay on long enough to get past the authorization step, only to get dropped on page 2 as I began surfing. My connection speeds are now consistently between 36K and 44K. For reference, my desktop connects at 48K very consistently. As this computer is not my main connection machine, and I was totally resolved to getting a stealth serial port to replace the modem, and connecting through that, I had no real risk to updating, which is undoubtably why it went so smooth.

Hope this info is useful to you. I do enjoy your articles, keep up the good work.

Roy Rhodes

Thanks for the input, folks. I still suggest proceeding with caution, and will wait a while yet before installing the updater. My Powerbook is my production machine, the modem currently works satisfactorily, and I have no desire to invoke the hassle of replacing it.

Apple's new Modem Version 2.0 may be downloaded for free from Apple's website, and supports the internal modem in the PowerBook G3 Series, iMac, Power Macintosh G3 (Blue and White), and Power Macintosh G4 (PCI and AGP) computers.(Some modems shipped in the earliest PowerBook G3 Series computers cannot be updated with this updater.)

This software bundle contains:
• new modem firmware for the internal 56K modem
• an updated AT command set

The most significant fix included in version 2.3 of the firmware resolves a compatibility problem involving communication servers that the 2.2 firmware would either fail to connect to or would only connect to at speeds in the V.34 range (below 33.6 kbps). Frequently these servers were listed as supporting V.90 and x2 protocols (as opposed to V.90 and K56flex)

The updater installs version 2.3 of the Conexant firmware which contains the latest versions of both the V.90 and the K56flex protocols. The modems can use either the K56flex or V.90 protocols and will automatically negotiate with the service provider and configure to use the appropriate one.

Apple notes that after you have updated the modem you may notice that the connection speed that is reported when you first establish a connection may be lower than it was prior to the upgrade, however the modem throughput will be at least as good and often better than before the upgrade. Throughput is the measure of how quickly a certain amount of data is transferred from one modem to another. It is important to remember that the connection speed that is reported is only the initial connection speed. The modems will adjust their communications speed as line conditions require. A faster connection speed does not necessarily indicate a higher throughput, factors like resending data due to noise on the phone lines will lower overall throughput. For more detail on these issues, go to:

http://til.info.apple.com/techinfo.nsf/artnum/n30734
or
http://til.info.apple.com/techinfo.nsf/artnum/n24482

Apple warns not to not cancel the modem updater installation process once you start updating; canceling the upgrade process will damage the modem. This modem updater may take up to five minutes to complete.

For more information on V.90 modem upgrade information, see Apple's support web site: http://www.apple.com/support

Charles W. Moore

.