Sales people for the 56k modem manufacturers would have you thinking that these modems support speeds of 56k. This isn't entirely true. First, FCC rules dictate that the fastest download speeds over analog lines be limited to 53kbps. The consensus among ISPs, based on testing and user experiences, is that, "real life" download times average 44kbps. An excellent resource for all matters concerning 56k modems can be found at http://56k.com. If your connection or download speeds are below 33.6kbps, there may be a problem with the physical condition of the phone line. Please refer to our page of dialup troubleshooting tips for a more in depth look at the problem.

Most dialup software reports the speed at which your modem connects with the modem server. If you have doubts as to the accuracy of the reported speed, you can try a more "real world" test. Find a large file, like a picture file, on you computer and upload it to your personal or domain web space. Use an application such as ftp to download the file back to your computer. The ftp program will report how long it took to download. Divide the size of the file by the number of seconds it took to download and you will arrive at the (rough) average bytes per second of data transfer rate.

Cruzio's equipment conforms to the "v.90" standard for 56k modems. (Cruzio also supports the older "X2" technology, but not the older "k56 flex" technology.) What this means is that Cruzio can support connections from v.90 modems, X2 modems, and X2 or k56flex modems that have been upgraded to the v.90 standard. Cruzio does not support k56flex modems without the v.90 upgrade. If you have a k56flex modem, you may be able to upgrade to v.90 technology.

You'll want to contact your modem manufacturer or look at their home page to find out about their upgrade program. You can find a list of modem manufacturers and their Web sites at the 56k.com home page. In addition, because of the different chipsets on the k56flex modems, some brands may not work with the v.90 standard even after they've been upgraded. Apparently, this is because those modems don't have enough memory to support v.90 and k56flex at the same time. Please read this section of the 56k.com Web site for more information.

If it isn't broke, then don't fix it. Most of the time, it is not necessary to customize an init string for your modem. However, if you are experiencing trouble connecting to Cruzio with a particular modem, and another modem you own connects to Cruzio just fine using the same telephone line, this is one possible indication that your non-working modem might need a new software driver, or if that doesn't work, to be initialized with a proper init string to connect to Cruzio.

Most of the time, dialup modem users do not need to specify a special sequence of commands to the modem to initialize it correctly. A modem will generally initialize itself correctly and work right out of the box once it is installed with the latest software drivers and firmware. The modem manufacturer usually does a pretty good job of setting up the modem initially with the best possible sequence of commands to make it work in the most situations possible.

However, sometimes modems have difficulty connecting to certain modem pools over certain line conditions, so it might be necessary to customize an init string for your particular situation.

Web Resources for Modem Initialization Strings:
http://www.spy.net/~dustin/modem/
http://www.cruzio.com/support/modems/initstrings.html
http://56k.com/inits/

56k modems need to update their firmware to keep up with current technology. Cruzio updates it's 56k modem pool firmware about every three months, as we receive updates from the manufacturer.

Firmware is software that resides in the modem hardware that can be electronically reprogrammed by software. Most 56k modems have so-called flash ROM, or software-upgradable firmware.

Check the Web site of your modem manufacturer for firmware update information. Here is a link to the 56k.com firmware update Web page. You can find links to most modems manufacturers here.

Things can go wrong during the flashing process, rendering the modem inoperable. Exercise caution. Read and understand the directions before starting the upgrade process. Don't try to run other programs while flashing the firmware, Only use firmware updates intended for your specific modem. If something does go wrong during the update, you will need to contact the modem manufacturer for a replacement.

Also, Cruzio would like to add that just because your modem works, it doesn't mean you have the best set of drivers installed to operate your modem. Many dialup modem users might be using generic versions of their modem's driver, which might not report the true connect speed. In this instance, if it is important that you know your true connect speed, or are otherwise not satisfied with your modem's performance, you should upgrade your modem's driver to the correct version in order to remedy these problems.

This error means that the computer dialer was unable to contact the modem. Reasons for this are:
1. The dialer is trying to dial a modem that is no longer installed on the computer. You must install a modem on this computer.

2. There is more than one modem installed on the computer. The dialer is trying to dial a modem that is no longer connected to the computer. If this is the problem, simply reconfigure the dialer so that it is dialing with the modem that IS connected to the computer.
On Win95,98:
- On the Windows Desktop, double-click on My Computer
- Double-click the Dialup Networking Folder
- Right-click on the Cruzio connection and go to Properties. If you have more than one, then identify the one that produced the error message.
- Under the "Connect Using" field, do you have more than one modem on the drop-down list?
- If you do, select the other modem(s) on the list and try dialing with those selected. Otherwise, you do not have more than one modem installed on this computer.

3. The dialer is trying to dial a modem that is not functioning properly, or that has wrong drivers installed for it. You must reinstall your modem drivers.

If modem diagnostics reports "..the modem failed to respond..", then you should reinstall your modem drivers.