Re: Apple's ways

[Michael Black <blackm00@gloria.cam.org>]

"william strutts" <wrstrutts1@nospam.home.com> wrote:

>"Ralf Quint" <Ralf_Quint@hot_mail.com> wrote:
>
>> There are PC boards out there, that don't have any separate keyboard
>> or mouse port anymore (AT style or PS/S), instead a few more USB
>> connections build in. ISA slots are omitted on a lot of boards, maing
>> it impossible to use a "real" internal modem (there are barely any
>> non-Winmodems for PCI available). And as before mentioned boards don't
>
>They are available but at higher price points.  A PCI Winmodem is
>under $40 but a REAL hardware modem is almost $100.

But let's be realistic.  I bought my first modem in 1989, a 1200
Baud, for about $100 Canadian.  While I switched to a five dollar
2400 baud modem in 1995, I didn't buy another new one till 1996,
when I jumped up to 14.4K, for about $100 Canadian.  Both modems
were external.

Both times, the fact that the price had just went under $100
seemed to be the point where I was willing to expend the money.
In both cases, had I bought earlier I could have paid considerably
more (how much more dependent on how much earlier).

The prices dropped as the new speed become popular enough,
and then when the next new speed increase came along, the old
speed dropped quite a bit in price, until they were no longer
being sold new.

With 56K modems, there doesn't seem to be anything new on
the horizons.  So they haven't become obsolete.  If anyone needs
a phone modem, there isn't any point in waiting for the next
speed (that will never come), and there isn't a higher speed
to drop the price of the 56K.  Yes, there are cable modems,
and whatever else is now considered the cutting edge for
connectivity, but they move away from the phone lines.  The
price of 56K modems could be said to remain the same because,
like 720K 3.5" disks, there is still a demand, but not a large
demand.

The price of 56K modems have dropped, not only from the price
that they were introduced at some years back.  They've dropped
to $20 or $30.  That feeds the demand for lower cost modems.
But the cost is reduced by making the hardware much simpler,
and using the computer to do the work.

And this has happened before, with Rockwell modems that
used the computer for compression and error checking.  Of
course, as competition drove things, there were other choices
and at good prices.

Unless faster phone modems arrive on the scene, and I don't
see that happening (even if speeds could be improved, they
won't match cable), there is far less reason for the price
of 56K modems to drop further, unless it is clearance
before you cannot buy one new.

I don't believe modem prices have ever dropped below a certain
level;  after a certain point, there was no sense in trying to
make them cheaper because something faster came along.  A $100
point may be close to where good modems rested before going
off the market for the next faster modem.

The real concern should not be about the price of "real
modems" versus WinModems, but whether the former will disappear
in favor of the latter.

On the other hand, used modems have always ended up being
cheap.  I paid five dollars for my 2400 baud modem, and have
passed by plenty of 14.4K modems in recent years for about
the same price.  Faster modems are likewise available used
for considerably less than their last new price.  If enough
move to cable or DSL, then that should free up 56K modems
at low prices.  (Of course, they made be mostly WindModems.)

I didn't even pay for my latest modem upgrade.  Or rather, 
my jump from 14.4K to 33.6K two months ago was via an internal
modem that came with a new to me but used computer.  I did
not pay much more for the whole thing than either of the
modems I bought new.  (And the $150 I paid for the whole
computer would not have paid for any of the computers or
printers that I bought new.)

  Michael