I bought Packard BellPC Imedia 3032 last year at PC World (not the best place to buy a PC I'll tell you) and this is the modem that's in my tower. It's an Aztech CNR2900-W.
About the company AZTECH
Aztech was setup in 1986 in Singapore. Soon, they were in Malaysia and Europe. They built better and fast modems until Broadband appeared then they focused their attention on build ADSL/Broadband modem for every kind of PC. They also make soundcards,
walkie talkies, products for wireless LAN, Homeplug, MP3 playes, Viop (voice over IP) Analog Telephone Adaptors and a lot more technology. Packard bell and NEC frequently use Aztech modems in their PCs.
The Modem itself
Aztech CNR2900-W is meant to be a build in modem (as on the picture below) for in a tower. It's an analog modem. It has a CNR slot, which fit into the back of the tower so the socket for the telephone plug is visible at the back of the PC so you don't have to mess about. If you're buy this modem separately and adding to your computer, your PC has to be higher than an Intel 486 and have more than 8MB of RAM. It works with Windows 3.x, 95, 98, 2000/NT 4.0, Windows ME and Windows XP. I'd advice you'd get someone who knows about PC to fit the modem and the cables.
It has a plug and play feature if the option of the modem is enabled in the BIOS of the PC. Windows will automatically detect it as a CNR Serial Controller and look for an INF file, which contained all the hardware information. On power on, the board will automatically be configured and all software will be put in place so it's ready for usage. This modem is perfect to use along side broadband technology and it works well as a fax. I've never had any problem with it whenever I've used it. It hardly ever cuts out and gives you uninterrupted internet/fax time as long as you have the program to Fax and use the Internet. The maximum transfer rate out of this modem for the Internet is 56 Kbps and the maximum for the fax is 14.4kps. An interesting feature is the modem can tell you when you have a phone call so you can configure the PC to alert you that you have a phone call and it will on your specification, either disconnect the modem or not. Although, I know about this feature I've never figured out how to use it yet and now I have NTL Cable modem and don't use this modem to connect to the Internet anymore through broadband nor dialup, I don't think I will find out. The modem cannot be used in DOS modem which is a shame for old computer that still use DOS for faxing etc. It has a warranty of one year. I didn't receive a manual with it as it was already built in but there's quite a lot of info on the net about this modem.
The price Well, it varies from Ebay £9 to £42 on Eurotech. So it can be a cheap modem or an expensive one depending where you buy it.
Data modem Compatible with V.92 standard 56 Kbps Internet connectivity via ITU-T V.92, V90 standard Line quality monitoring and retraining TIE-695 AT Command Set Auto dialling and auto answer Tone or pulse dialling option Backward compatible to V.90 (56 Kbps), V.34bis (33.6 Kbps), V.34 (28.8 Kbps), V.32bis (14.4 Kbps), V.32, V.23, V.22bis, V.22 and V.21. Bell 212A and Bell 103 V.42 LAPM and MNP 2-4 error correction V.42 bis and MNP 5 data compression TIE-695 AT command set
Fax Function V.17 (14.4 Kbps), V.29 (9.6 Kbps), and V.27ter (4.8 Kbps) Class 1.0 commands, V.21 Channel 2 Group 3 fax mode EIA/TIA 578 Class 1 and T31
Features Intel CNR 1.2 Interface compliant AC?97 2.x Compliant ITU-T V.92, V.90 data/fax modem riser. Handset exclusion feature for uninterrupted data or internet connection Wake-up on-ring through AC-link Call progress monitoring feature through AC-link or PCI audio Design compatible to support Intel,VIA,SIS,ALI Chipsets
*Specification taken from Packard Bell website
Support for your modem
Website: http://www.aztech.com/
On their website, you can find updates for the drivers and software for this modem. Also you can download the manual.
Headquarter: AZTECH SYSTEMS LTD No 31 Ubi Road 1, Aztech Building, Singapore 408694. Tel: (65) 6741-7211 Fax: (65) 6749-1198
Europe Office AZTECH SYSTEMS GmbH Kreuzberger Ring 21 65205 Wiesbaden Germany Tel: +49(0) 611 9748 450 Fax: +49(0) 611 9748 455
Pictures
Aztech
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Good review now updated stops ppl getting confused, very informative
paulccarey 30.06.2005 13:11
it seams this is only a dial up modem with speeds upto 56k so not a broadband modem at all, just your standard modem but not for broadband as you mentioned in your review but at least you had a try!
Miles13 08.06.2005 16:26
That should say usual damm fingers are always slippin' at the wrong moment Milt
Jun 7th, 2005
very helpful by (72%):
helpful by (28%):
