Modem Reviews

This cable modem and wireless functions of this device seemed to be operational, but any time I tried to have two computers hooked up simultaneously, both computers would lose their connection with the gateway. This was indeed frustrating, but technical support failed to resolve the problem after a month of exasperating phone calls and one product exchange. I was twice promised a return call within 24 hours, and twice unapologetically snubbed.
I have been extremely disappointed and discouraged with this experience, and I am not inclined to ever purchase another Netgear product. I have returned this product and decided to go with Linksys after a recommendation from my systems administrator.

My 3 star rating is based on my rating of this unit's features and Netgear support - I still do not have it working yet.

(I have made 6 calls to Comcast support, but the connection from the modem is still being refused by Comcast.)

I called Netgear support to see if they could shed any light, and after waiting 45 minutes, was answered by a call center in India by a technician that I could not understand. An e-mail supprt request remains unanswered after 2 days.

I just recieved and connected the Netgear CG814M 802.11b Wireless Cable Modem Internet Gateway... it worked fine although it took Comcast cable over 10hrs, two installers, 3 customer reps and finnally a competant technical advisor at 12midnight who simply entered the correct serial and mac numbers that others before him couldn't figure out (can you tell I'm not a fan of Comcast cable's customer service!!!) and within minutes I was up and running. An excellent, whisper quiet and sleek silver designed unit that accomplishes all that it was meant to do. The USB and Ethernet are all that I have utilized so far, I'm waiting to configure the unit and also waiting on my wireless USB adaptors, PC cards and CF cards to really get my wireless networking off the ground. So far so good, I HIGHLY reccommend it!

Once installed on a Windows XP computer, it would not connect most of the time, but worse of all it caused interference with my PCI video card. After installation of the modem I received scrambled color output to my monitor that resulted in a green streak down both sides and a red streak across the top. If it did connect, the modem on hold feature could not be disabled (my ISP does not support this feature). All incoming calls would drop all ISP connections. I would not recommend this product to anyone even if you paid me $50.00.

I was searching for a cheap modem for a Pc i recently built and deceided to take a chance with this one.As it was cheap and only cost me around $...

Modem was very easy to install and worked right away without any hassels.I did not even need to load the included software,i just installed it into the Pci slot on the Pc.Windows XP recognized it quickly and everything was up and working.Excellent!

I previously bought a BestData modem with ISA interface because I have an ISA slot available on my PC's motherboard. The ISA one is very difficult to install and configure. I spend three hours work on it and finally I gave up. Then I replaced it with a BestData's PCI modem. It only took me about 10 minutes to complete the installation. There is no need to do any configuration. The modem works very great and most of time it runs with a connection rate @ 52,000, it's even close to 56K. I haven't try other functions such as modem-on-hold to receive incoming calls. I would like to see others reviews/comments on this issue.

Stay far away from this modem. It drops your connection about 5 times an hour. Then when reconnecting it may take you 15 trys before you actually get connected. Then to top it off, the speeds are the slowest I've found. After working as a tech support person for an ISP for years, I've figured I've seen bad modems in my time, but this one is the worst. You would be better off using tin cans and string

I bought this modem because it was a controller-based modem (so I could use it with Windows OR Linux, not just Windows). It was serial-port connected, so easy to set up. Also, it has (so Creative says) Caller ID and Caller ID with Call-Waiting functionality. The only thing I couldn't find advertised about it was whether it had Distinctive Ring capability. However, I've had an older v90 internal ModemBlaster that's done me well, so I hoped...

Well, after setting up the modem, I started testing its functionality. It worked great for connecting. It received faxes with no problem. It DOES do Distinctive Ring, and worked perfectly. However - no Caller ID information would display!

After finding nothing enlightening on Creative's web site (they didn't even have the AT command for Caller ID listed in their AT Command Set documents), I contacted Creative's tech support, who acted like I knew nothing - even though I had put in that I was an "Advanced PC User" (I've done PC tech support for over 11 years, which has included lots of experience with various modems.)

They insisted that if I had typed the commands correctly (AT+VCID=1), then the problem lay solely with my computer or the phone line. He did suggest that I could try AT+VCID=2, which is the unformatted version of Caller ID (and which displays something at least even if the phone line is noisy). I tried that, moved the modem to different computers, and attached different phone line segments to make sure there was no line noise. I also tried my v90 internal ModemBlaster in the same places. The v90 worked fine (including Caller ID) - but although everything else worked fine on the DE5621 in each of the places and ways I tested, it just would not do Caller ID.

After searching on the web for reviews that mentioned Caller ID for this modem, I found only one. It was only one line, with no details, and said "This modem does not have Caller ID as advertised". I can definitely say that the one *I* bought doesn't have Caller ID as advertised. I will be returning it and looking for another brand. Creative may do great sound cards, but I don't trust their modems - and their tech support is terrible.

I don't know what the first reviewer was doing with this modem, but in all of the testing I've done with it, none of his words apply to this great modem.

Connection: I've easily been able to stay connected to this modem for as long as I want. In fact, the only times I have been disconnected is when I myself disconnected or turned off the modem. If you want me to be blunt, I could probably keep this modem connected for days. The speed the modem provided was also at its peak during all times.

Hardware: The modem itself is rather small and compact, with a lot of signal lights to keep you notified of your connectivity, it has nine lights. It comes with a serial connecter, so all you need is an open serial port.

Installation: I tested this modem on two operating systems, Windows and two distributions of Linux, Mandrake and Slackware. Both installations went fine and without problems. The drivers are only for Windows, but on both systems, you can install the modem by yourself if you have some computer knowledge. In Windows, simply install the drivers and connect normally. In Linux, simply choose the serial port the modem is connected to and connect normally.

Basically this modem is at the peak of technology in its category. I would always pick broadband over dialup, but for those of you who do not have broadband available, or simply don't want it, this modem is right for you.

Its cheap because it works like its cheap. I dont recomend it.

This 56k modem has a low power consumption feature which is very useful in prolonging the battery life of a handheld. I have tried other pcmcia modem but this is the best one of them all. Definitely worth the purchase.

I bought this modem over a month ago...it doesn't work, a completely dead modem. Once their technical department was convinced that it wasn't due to my error, they agreed to take it back. They RELUCTANTLY agreed to mail me a pre-postage package for return, but it has never arrived. This is a bad product, as well as bad customer service, plain and simple. Trust me, avoid it if you're not wanting to be out a modem, as well as the money.

I got this modem (HM92P) about 10 days ago. I use it in my new Dell desktop. It has been been working great -- I am still waiting for the moment when I connect at less than 50 Kbps. It connects fast and holds the connection at this speed for _hours_.
I have another modem by Hawking (a PCMCIA model) in my laptop. It has been great too. People at Hawking apparently know how to make a good modem -- which, after all, should not be _that_ difficult these days.
I would recommend this modem to anyone. It is inexpensive and it works exactly as advertised.

The description of this item is incomplete. It does not specifically indicate anywhere in the description that this card requires an available ISA slot on your computer and it does. Most motherboards made within the last several years only have PCI slots but no ISA slots so you cannot use this modem if all you have are PCI slots. The full name of this product is "Hayes Accura V.90 56K ISA Faxmodem-Internal" and I wish that the description of this item specifically stated that this card required an open ISA slot. I would have bought the PCI version if I had been given a better "heads up". There is nothing wrong with the modem itself. What an unnecessary waste of time.

Any idiot can clearly tell that this modem cannot be used in a PCI slot.

If this product had worked the way it was supposed to work (i.e., if it had worked *at all*) it might have been a great choice. As it was, I spent several hours trying to configure it myself, then several more hours with Netgear tech support (avg. wait >30 minutes) trying various ways to troubleshoot it. I upgraded the firmware to their latest version (l.4 release 05). It still didn't work. I called tech support back and after running me through all the same procedures for another hour or so, they concluded I had a defective router. So I sent it back for an exchange, got another one, and the second one failed to work as well. I again spent multiple hours talking to tech support and was transferred to a senior technician, who ultimately concluded the second unit was defective. Incredulous, I called and talked to another senior tech, who concluded that the unit was either defective (in which case I wish I'd saved my luck for the lottery) or simply didn't work with my setup. That was the final diagnosis -- they had no explanation for *why* it didn't work, not even a theory.

So after a grand total of perhaps 6-8 hours of talking with Netgear tech support, my ISP, and my local phone company's tech support, plus a couple weeks of waiting while I exchanged my first unit and waited for email responses from Netgear's senior techs, I finally returned the thing for a refund. I now have an Actiontec DSL gateway that works like a charm.

Maybe Netgear needs to come up with yet another firmware patch? In any case (as the other reviews here indicate as well) I'd hold off buying this particular product until it's clear they have worked out all the bugs.

I would agree that this modem does not work with the firmware that is shipped with the Netgears DG824M modem which was version 1.2, even 1.3 does not work. After upgrading the firmware to 1.4 it started to work. Note you must upgrade in sequence. 1.4 release 5 works great. I have had no problems with all the rich features within the modem after upgrading. I gave it 4 stars because the modem, firewall, wireless, switch, router was all stuck into one box and it worked once it was fully patched. The missing star is because Netgear sold the modem with firmware that was clearly defective.

you need to know what you donig with this one and if you do it works great, if you don't know then leave it alone!!!

The company that makes this item went of business March, 2001. This makes the "5 year warranty" useless. I bought one in August 2001 and quit functioning February 2002. If I had known the company was out of business, I wouldn't have purchased it.

I bought this modem at CompUSA for ..., took it home and hurriedly unpackaged it and slipped it into the unwieldy IPAQ sleeve and was ready to go. Then I got an "unrecognized CF card" error. I tried again. No dice. I did a soft reboot. No luck. I took it back to the store and tried another one out of the box. No luck. I took my IPAQ back to the other retailer (BB) and tried another CF sleeve. Then another IPAQ unit. Still no go. I called Tech Support for both Compaq and the manufacturer. Compaq made me do a hard reset (in which I lost everything).

It is amazing how this product works so well every time with my HP Jornada 548. I use it every day to access the web and check my email fast and reliable at work or away from my desktop PC. Just plug it into the CF slot and you are ready to go because it's hot swapable. I didn't give it 5 starts because even when it has a small size the RJ-11 telephone jack make it a little bulky.

I purchased the Siemens 2521, 2501 and 2502 Powerline adapters and connected them to the outlets in my home, (which is less than five years old). The setup was easy but the included instruction guide stated little more than "plug it in".

The problems began when I installed the included configuration software on my three computers equipped with WINDOWS ME and discovered that the utility program either froze Windows or took close to 2 minutes to start. The SpeedStream Support staff is aware of the problem and told me that "the programmers at Efficient Networks are working on it".

But the biggest issue I have is that none of the three Powerline products will stay connected for more than 10 minutes! I have tried changing outlets and even tried hooking up the adapters at my friend's house but these things simply refuse to maintain a connection.

Bottom line: Unless you enjoy loosing your network connection and having to get up and reset adapters every ten minutes, stay away from Siemens Powerline products...at least for now.

I have no problems with this unit maintining a signal, even in a setup using HomePlug units from another manufacturer (D-Link) and with multiple machines on at once. You do have to make sure all homeplug units on the powerline net are using the same DES key. You also have to make sure your wirelessly enabled computer (in my case a laptop) is set up for the same channel, WEP password, etc., as the access point. I get 3-5Mbps over the powerline which is plenty for cable modem sharing.

This worked like a charm - I'd read mixed reviews of the Powerline ( HomePlug ) performance in these Siemens systems. But, I was getting no usable signal from my Siemens 2524 wireless router in a separate building nearby, so I tried this. Ran the included disk, plugged in this item when prompted, and bingo - 99% signal strength, 100% link quality. And, contrary to a review I read here, it is NOT necessary that the router be on the same electrical circuit as this 2521 WAP. In my location, the 2521 is not only on a wholly different circuit, but in an entirely different building from the SS2524 router, and it works perfectly. (This building is on the same side of the electrical meter as the router - I understand the signal will not cross the meter.) Now we have perfect wireless access anywhere near an outlet, and all is happiness ...

I have had no luck in getting the modem to work. It sets up ok and responds to AT commands until it is asked to dial. It immediately returns ERROR. I have worked with the vendor service desk for over a month. I have tried two Macintoshes and a PC. I've tried 3 different phone lines and paid the phone company to check the lines at my house. I have edited CCL files. I have had two engineers and a computer technician try. I have swapped the modems with other modems known to work and they all work fine, but the Zoom doesn't. Amazon's wonderful replacement policy replaced the first modem. The second modem does the same identical thing. I have spent too much time and money on something that is supposed to plug in and operate easily. I'll try something else.

I ordered this product to give to my mother for mother's Day. She got it on time. Now As of June 13,2000 the modem is no longer working. It simply won't connect. There is some type of error and won't accept commands.

I wrote a review previous to this claiming to be a little disappointed. Well, Now I am elated! I sent the product back and they replaced it at no charge! I haven't experienced any more problems. Apparently it just had a flaw in that particular item. I recommend this product.