Re: Why no internal modem > 2400?

[lesherjt@vuse.vanderbilt.edu (Tilghman Lesher)]

Sheldon Simms (sheldon@atlcom.net) wrote:
: In article <5ejfl9$njg$1@darla.visi.com>, nathan@visi.com (Nathan Mates) wrote:

: > In article <2000800444-970220060400@rook.wa.com>,
: > Brian Hammack <brian.hammack@rook.wa.com> wrote:
: > >        We have SCSI cards, we have SecondSight, we have hard drives on
: > >cards, but why don't we have internal modems for Apples faster than 2400
: > >bps?  This eludes me.   Anyone have any guesses?
: > 
: >    All (well, both) of my modems have been external. I rather prefer
: > being able to move it to whatever computer is doing the networking
: > this year, without having to worry about PC/A2/Mac/etc
: > interfacing. I'll pay the extra $30-40 to get an external modem and be
: > able to move it around.

: Also consider the fact that an internal modem for the Apple II would be
: considerably MORE expensive than an equivalent generic external modem
: due to economies of scale. Frankly, there's just no good reason to
: have an internal modem and at least one very bad feature of internal
: modems made the news in the past few days:

: There was a scam where you downloaded software to access a BBS. The
: software dialed up a number in Moldova and then didn't disconnect the
: modem when you quit the software. If you had an external modem you could
: see immediately that you were still connected and turn the modem off,
: as it happened people were charged for hundreds of minutes of long distance
: to Moldova even if they left the BBS immediately.

Slightly incorrect in the facts.  The software claimed to be a special
viewer for your computer.  Actually, it *secretly* disconnected the
local ISP and *secretly* dialed the international number.  People
thought they were actually still connected to their local ISP and would
continue to use the WWW (linked over an international phone call) even
after they had finished using the "viewer".  Some even left their
connections on for hours, figuring it was just a local call.....

And for most people, the modem just is a box with blinking lights.
It's unlikely they would've noticed the dialin, except if their modem
had an external volume control on the signal (like my USR Sportster).

And even then, I usually keep the volume turned off...

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