Why upgrade Modem Firmware?

In the past two years, the number of computers sold with "software" or "win" modems has increased significantly. How well these modems perform is largely a function of their "Firmware". These modems are inexpensive compared to hardware modems, but tend to need more maintenence. Worldlink's Technical Support department spends a disproportionate amount of time working with customers who choose to use this style of modem. Here are the names of common software modems.

These non-hardware types of modems rely on software running on your PC (the firmware) to control how they do their job. In essence, your CPU is doing much of the work done by a traditional hardware modem. Because of this, you MUST have significant free system resources in order to allow a software modem to work adequately. In many cases, you should NOT run any other programs while you are surfing the web, sending or receiving email, or downloading files. (this includes automatic utilities like virus scanning programs, maintenence wizards, and anything sitting in your system tray) A typical software modem requires around 50 or 60 Megahertz of processor speed to operate correctly. If you are running other programs and available CPU capacity falls below 60 Mhz, your dialup connection can fail.

Since a software modem relies on other parts of your PC to do the work for it, it is important that the firmware controlling this interaction do it's job exceptionally well. It is not uncommon for a modem manufacturer to produce several upgrades to the firmware originally shipped with the modem. These upgrades are released to correct problems found in the previous release.

Symptoms often corrected by a firmware upgrade:

• Random disconnects
• Slow connect speeds (connecting at 28.8 on a "56K" modem)
• Low throughput- despite a high connect speed (slow downloads, slow web access)
• Corrupted downloads

Usually you can find a firmware upgrade on your modem manufacturer's web page. If your modem is malfunctioning to the point that you can't connect long enough to download the upgrade, you will need to use a different computer either at work or at a friend's house. Some upgrades are too large to fit on one 3.5" floppy disk. If this is the case, it's better to use a ZIP disk, a CD-R or CD-RW to save the upgrade.

There are thousands of different modems in use. The upgrade for one specific modem may cause another to fail completely. Sometimes the firmware for a different modem will work, but you may lose certain features like fax or sound.

If this sounds like a lot of work just to connect to the internet, this is part of the trade-off with "software" modems that typically cost 80% less than a quality hardware modem. Computer manufacturers use these modems due to their low cost. Additionally, as high speed access becomes available, users of inexpensive modems tend to be those less interested in "high performance" connections. If you live in an area where high speed connections are not yet available, but need higher performance, you should consider purchasing a high quality modem.

Below are some links that we find useful in diagnosing and solving modem related problems.

• 56K= v.Unreliable A good resource for software modem users. Information about many makes and models.
• Modem Central Covers many types of modems (Dialup, DSL, Cable, ISDN)