Modem Reviews

This is a good cable modem with all the right protocols, as well as with ugradeable firmware. However, it is ethernet only, with no option for USB connectivity. As a cable modem should outlive most current PCs (especially if the modem is flash upgradeable), the lack of a USB connection is a serious flaw. I'd pass.

I bought this cable modem primarily because of the Cable Labs certification. Within 5 minutes of calling the cable company and giving them the MAC address, I was surfing the internet. Nothing to set - truly plug-and-play.

I had a ZOOM USB dial up modem that I loved so I bought this one when I got my cable service. What can I say: you just hook it up and go. No drivers at all.

I was abit suspicious when I heard of VOIP internet telephony, which (unlike typical internet telephony services like "net2phone" or "dialpad") is supposed to work really well with broadband/fast internet service (e.g. DSL, Cable, or satellite. However when I heard about the good reviews of VOIP I decided tyo give it a try since I had DSL. I decided to subsrcibe to DeltaThree's "iconnecthere" service and that meant that I needed to buy the Actiontec IPW in order to use it. The Actiontec IPW device is very easy to use and works just fine with the "iconnecthere" service. I have had no problems with it and the voice clarity is very good (I'd give it an 8/10). The only problem is that the instructions that came with the Actiontec IPW on how to connect it to the PC and Modem weren't clear so I had to figure it out on my own. However I have submitted a "flow chart" to Amazon.com which I assume can be found on this page, and it shows how to connect the device easily, I hope you find it helpful!

This product is excelent.
I also use iConnectHere, but this product is not mandatory for placing calls. I used a headset w/microphone in the first place, and later decided to buy the IPW.
The sound quality is very good. I have also been able to use it with the following providers/products:

Dialpad/DialpadChameleon
FreeWorldDialUp/X-ten lite

However, you cannot dial directly from the phone's numeric keypad with these. Only PcPhone (from iConnectHere) supports this feature.

Don't forget that a high network/internet load can affect the sound quality.

This has been a good modem for me but I am disappointed about the limited number of Cell phones it works with. I have a Sony phone that I can't connect because there isn't a cable that I can find to fit it. I guess card.

I like it and have used it for two years. Have only used it with a Motorola flip phone. Works okay. A bit slow running mostly at 9600 bps. Wish it would run faster. Seems to be smart and detect phone line quality and adjusts modem speed. I recommend it and will be keeping my current one with my soon to arrive, Dell 7500.

If you have a hyper-threaded processor in your computer, be wary of this modem. The software that shipped with the modem was so totally flawed that my computer locked up every time I tried to dial my ISP. Creative Labs has an updated driver on their website that was supposed to fix the hyper-threading problem. However, I had to manually uninstall the old driver by wiping out a bunch of registry values (very dangerous) because the uninstaller didn't remove the bad version of the driver properly. When the new driver was finally installed, most functions worked OK but my computer still hangs up whenever the Modem-on-Hold feature is actived. So I had to disable call-waiting in the dial string to avoid inbound calls altogether while online. This modem may be inexpensive but it does not perform exactly as promised. The software and the overall design leaves something to be desired.

This is a great little USB modem but there are some do's and dont's with the install!! Better make sure your USB port on your PC is at least version 1.1 (as my second computer was only USB 1.0) and couldn't get this modem to work properly on that PC. Plus if you connect to a USB powered hub as I did, you might also have slow performance problems.. Once I connected straight to the back of the PC the internet connection started to fly.. am Im very pleased with this modem "on my newer pc"

The auto-start feature for the CD-ROM did not work. Once you get past that and to the appropriate start files the modem installs easily. Good dial-up connection speeds.

Works right out of the box with the Zaurus SL-5600, as advertised (unlike the Targus 56K Pocket CF Modem). Too bad it's more than twice the cost!

Works good, connects at close to 56k. It would get five stars but it won't connect to flex.com. Thats not much of a knock because I have not found very many modems that will connect to flex.com. It would be nice if it had a led on the card to indicate activity.

I use the modem card with my Cassiopeia Pocket PC. I travel alot during the day, and I use the modem card to e-mail, surf the web, and access my office network from different locations. So far battery drain hasn't been an issue, I've used it for several hours without any problems. Easy and convenient to use, I've even used it at a pay phone!

Have been running Windows XP. XP recognizes it as a generic fax/modem and answers the phone everytime it rings as a fax interfering with incoming calls. Creative has not released a driver for XP. It connects about 30 to 50% of the time on first try. Once connected the connection fails about 50% of the time. Have tried to get help from Creative, but nothing yet.

IT WAS THAT TIME,I HAD BEEFED UP MY RAM,VIDEO CARD UPDATED TO A NEW VERSION OF AOL,THE TIME CAME FOR A NEW MODEM.I READ UP ON SOME OF THE MODEMS BUT I HAD NO IDEA WHAT I WAS FACING WHEN I WALKED INTO THE LOCAL COMPUTER STORE.BRANDS OF MODEMS I NEVER HEARD OF AND MY CONCERN WAS IT GOING TO BE THE RIGHT CHOICE? 3 CLERKS GAVE ME 3 OPINIONS WHICH DIDNT HELP.I FINALLY GOT THE CREATIVE MODEM 5630.IT BOASTED PNP,WELL THIS WASNT THE CASE,AFTER 3 TRIES I GOT IT TO LOAD THE DRIVERS AND THE OTHER ADD ONS WHICH WERE A PLUS.INTALLATION WAS 10 MINS TOPS. MY CONNCECTION SPEEDS WERE INCREASED.I RARELY CONNNECT BELOW 48000BPS.DEFINITELY AN INCREASE FROM 44000.ASIDE FROM THE PLUG AND PLAY DIFFICULTY I WOULD SAY IT WAS WORTH THE PRICE.

This modem is a real gem and a steal at it's price. I owned one for 3 years until it got zapped during a thunderstorm recently and now I am hunting around for another one. You get rock solid connections and excellent throughput and download speeds but one thing that really stands out is its ability to shrug off bad line conditions. I had installed dsl before my modems demise and it performed flawlessly even with the additional line noise brought on by dsl. If you are looking around for a modem as backup to your dsl/cable then look no further. You will be hard pressed to find a finer modem. BTW my pc is a Pentium 200mhz just so you know that this modem is totally undemanding on cpu cycles, in fact its minimum system requirements is a 100mhz cpu! If you look at other int modems out there you will see much higher cpu requirements because the modem depends on your cpu to do some of its work, but not this one! An excellent buy! No other modem comes close in terms of performance.

Bought a Linksys BEFCMU10 (version 2) in January of 2003. Initially had a few problems requiring that I reset the modem. Problem turned out to be an ISP problem. Problem fixed and had a year and a half of excellent service.
Yesterday, my Linksys BEFCMU10 failed. I bought a new (version 3) and am back in business.
At $10 per month to rent a modem from my ISP, I am still money ahead buying my modem. However, the Linksys modem does get hot and the heat is probably exacerbated using the modem with a stakable Linksys router as I do.

After frustrating results trying to set up the cable modem and 20 hours on line with @Home... no, not @Home. Today, ATTBI... (will it be ATTBI-Comcast???)

The new ATTBI help desk officially does not support this modem. However, the reason for my troubles was because the flunkies that were helping me failed to properly register my MAC address.

Be persistent with updating your MAC address with your cable ISP and the Linksys BEFCMU10 will work like a charm.

This is a great little modem. I hooked up through the ethernet port so I didn't have any compatibility problems with the operating system, that only applies through the USB connection. My ISP is ATTBI. Initially, the cable light would not stay nailed up like it did on my leased RCA modem. According to the manual, the cable light is an indication of communication between the modem and the internet. If you are not sending or receiving data, the cable light cycles about every 20 seconds. This was an indication to the ATTBI technician that the modem was receiving an intermittent signal (an incorrect assumption). He advised me that the modem was bad and to contact Linksys. He did however, despite the conclusion he had made, load the MAC address for my Linksys modem into the system luckily for me (I'm sure the irony was lost on that individual or else they were looking to charge me twice to change out the MAC address twice anyway...). Fortunately, I had some "techie" friends who saw through that tech support nonsense and told me to proceed through the set-up process. I never had to contact Linksys and my modem works great. It took less than 5 minutes to set up.

To make a long story short, I bought this modem back in 2001 in advance of my cable installation. The installer could not get it to work - the cable light would flash slowly indicating it could not get a signal. After repeated attempts the installer left me with a rental modem which worked fine. I sent the CMX-110 back to Best Data who quickly replaced it under warranty. When I received the replacement, I hooked it up again to find the same symptoms as the original. Just when cable tech support and I were ready to give up on this, one of the tech guys said he heard a rumor and suggested I take a pair of needle-nose pliers and pull on the "stinger" (that is the actual cable wire that sticks out past the cable end). He had heard that this modem required just a little longer "stinger" than was standard. I was initially disappointed when I tried this because I could only get just the tiniest bit more wire to come out. But when I tried it, I got an immediate connection and it's been fine ever since!

I had my cable jack installed and ready for over a month while waiting for the local preferred-provider to get a new shipment of modems. I got disgusted, ordered this one from Amazon and couldn't be more pleased. I took it out of the box, plugged in the power supply, screwed on the coaxial cable (not provided) and attached the ethernet cable (provided) and was live in 60 seconds! I went to DSLReports.com, tweaked my connection and then ran their speed test utility, with perfect results.

I've bought this to replace my old Surfboard modem and get rid of monthly rental fee. The modem worked as advertised, it connects on average in 5 seconds compared to my old one which took a few minutes. One unexpected improvement was also speed increase. I've been told by my cable company that the cable lines where I live tend to be noisier than average, resulting in poor pings and transfer rates, its pretty much gone now that I am using this modem.

Best Data also has an excellent prompt tech support via email, which I thought I needed when my cable provider failed to add my MAC address to their system.

If you already know how to set up a dial-up connection on your Windows 9x machine, then connecting to the Internet with your PocketPC using this modem is a no-brainer; you'll be up and running within 5-10 minutes of taking it out of the box.

I orginally bought this modem to use with my Cassiopeia E-105, I have used it many times on my freind's Cassiopeia E-115, and now I use it regularly on my Cassiopeia E-125. Despite some of the other customer reviews for this product, please note:

THIS MODEM WORKS PERFECTLY ON THE CASSIOPEIA E-105, E-115 AND E-125.

If you have one of the units mentioned above and you can't get this modem to work, something is wrong: either you received a defective modem, a defective PDA, or you have some program installed on your PocketPC that is preventing the modem from working correctly.

I agree that the manual that comes with the modem is pretty spare, but I didn't need it to use this modem. The modem itself is a no-brainer, just plug it in. It's PocketPC Dial-up Networking that's the hard part, and if you already know how to do it on your Windows 9x system, then it's a piece of cake.

The modem is hot swappable, meaning that you don't need to do anything special before using it each time. Just open up the compact flash port on your device, remove any other devices or cards you have plugged into the port (if any), plug this modem into the port, open up your ISP connection and hit connect. You don't even need to turn the device off and on or anything like that.

I travel frequently on business and used to take along my 7.1 lb Dell laptop. In general, however, when on the road I really only need e-mail access and light word processing. When I recently upgraded from an old Palm III to the Compaq iPAQ pocket pc, I picked up the Pretec modem as well. It is tiny, so that it fits easily into a small case that also carries the AC adapter and a few other odds and ends. But it works great. I have had no difficulty accessing my AOL e-mail, using the AOL Anywhere software. I had a bit more trouble configuring the software to get access to my network, but that is up and running too now. Granted, the manual didn't help much. But the software is pretty intuitive and any Windows 9x user who set up dial-up networking on their PC will have no trouble setting up dial-up networking on their Pocket PC.

The Pretec is remarkably tough. I have dropped it 3 feet onto a hardwood floor, banged it into a wall, and generally abused it. No problems. Like the old Time watch ads...it takes a licking and keeps on ticking. Download speed is great. The only major problem is that it is a real power hog. Keep that AC adapter handy. Recommended.

I use it on the road with my Cassiopeia and it has worked in every hotel room, giving me internet access on my PDA. I do wish it would make some noise while trying to connect however since I can never tell if it dialed out of the hotel correctly.

I was renting a DCM225R Cable modem from Charter - and when I saw this modem on sale, I decided it was time to stop renting. It installed with no hassles at all. Just wait and watch the lights telling you what it's doing (searching for the downstream connection, searching for the upstream connection, etc.) Then boot up your computer. I didn't have to do any configuration changes at all. And it might be me - but the link seems even faster now!

Until 2 months ago I used Com21 modem that often was disconnected from my cable provider. I called Charter and complained; they imediately replaced the COM21 (said they had issues with that brand before) and replaced it with this RCA unit. Not only I had no problem ever since, it is also lot faster than the previous unit. Highly satisfied with this product!

The RCA Digital Cable Modem (DCM245R) is a cable modem that just works.

First purchased in June of 2002, my unit has never given me one bit of problems. During those times when something seemed wrong, it was due to the cable network NOT my modem. I have been able to count on a connection day in and day out with this unit.

It is DOCSIS compliant which means that it should be usable with many of the cable networks out there. However, check with your cable provider to make sure.

I can hardily recommend this unit as it has withstood the test of time and continues to provide me with exceptional service to this day.

Highly recommended!