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Global Village Teleport Internet Edition
Company: Global Village Communications, Inc.
Estimated Price: $169.98
http://www.globalvillage.com

Back in April of 1996, when I got my current Mac, the speed of the modem greatly influenced my purchase. I knew the Internet would be of major use with my new computer. I wanted fast, fast, fast! Of course, back in 1996, 14.4 was fast. Now, however, my modem can be compared to a turtle.

I recently realized that my current modem status was too much to bear. With everyone else shooting past me at 28.8, 33.6 or faster, I was in need of speed. So, I started looking... and I found exactly what I wanted, a Global Village Internet Edition 33.6. Remembering the loyalty of my former Global Village hardware, I couldn't pass it up.

The Internet Edition modem was easy to set up. Plug it into your serial port, install the software, and hop online at speeds putting Superman to shame. The modem doesn't have a huge, bulky power adapter either, because it feeds off of your Mac's power.

The software is perfect. The Internet Edition comes with the GlobalFax software, which is amazingly easy to use. It also installs the software needed for your Mac to recognize its new appendage. The easy setup is a plus for new users. You can easily set error correction and data compression via the Teleport control panel. The control panel also sports a nifty "Use Maximum throughput" option, allowing your modem to top out at speeds above 33.6, possibly even 55.6k with data compression. Also included with the software bundle is NETCOMplete Internet Access and Netscape Navigator.

Software installed and manuals in hand, I decided to give her a try. I loaded America Online, opened the setup, and dropped my jaw... AOL 3.0 has no modem script for this modem! Drat! Much worse, you cannot install additional modem profiles in 3.0 without enough trouble to start wars in Europe. Thankfully, the Internet Edition supports other profiles like "Teleport Platinum" and "Hayes Error Correcting". Still, Global Village gives you a modem script for AOL (which can be easily installed in AOL 2.6 and 2.7). If you want to use the script, a bit of text opening and string changing will be in order. I found success using other similar modem profiles, so that might not be needed.

Using the Teleport control panel, I set the correction to v.42bis and signed on to AOL. A noticeable speed increase was immediate. The real test still remains, the Internet. Will it pass the grueling test?

Internet use is much faster with the Internet Edition modem. I got speeds above and beyond 28.8 several times. At times, my modem was clocked at nearly 33.6 (the access number I used was 28.8). Using a 33.6 access number, speeds were up to and beyond 41.5 at times. Download times are cut by a third or more. An 8 MB download from the Internet (from http://devworld.apple.com) with my old 14.4 modem took 2.5 hours. With my Internet Edition modem running, that time was cut to under an hour.

I found only one point of interest with this modem. The software seems to conflict with Speed Doubler 2.0.1. This only seems to be the case when you are running 7.6.1. This did not surprise me, seeing that the Speed Doubler 2.0.1 software has been known to conflict with 7.6.1. I should point out, however, that Connectix (http://www.connectix.com) has released an update for Speed Doubler (passing an unreleased 2.0.2 and making it 2.0.3). After installing the update, my problems vanished.

I made a good choice. The modem is fast, reliable, and inexpensive (the Internet Edition 33.6 modem sells for around $165). Even when I use our spliced, 40-year old telephone wires, I get good results. For those looking to step up from the 14.4 days, the Global Village Internet Edition 33.6 won't let you down.

Tips for keeping a healthy Global Village modem:

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