Re: OT: Winmodems are soundcards Was: Laptop for College Bound Student?

[Hugo Vanwoerkom <hvw59601@care2.com>]

Paul Johnson wrote:
> On Thu, 2008-06-12 at 10:21 -0500, Hugo Vanwoerkom wrote:
> > Brad Rogers wrote:
> > > On Thu, 12 Jun 2008 12:57:58 +0200
> > > Misko <asdrtg-mlist@yahoo.com.au> wrote:
> > >
> > > Hello Misko,
> > >
> > > > is if I can make my regular soundcard force to behave like modem?
> > > Possibly, but why would you want to?  When you're on-line using a
> > > WinModem the CPU has to do all the work of (en|de)coding data that
> > > would normally be done by the modem itself.  This slows the computer
> > > down.  Maybe not much, but if you're doing something critical, time, and
> > > timing, may be of the essence.
> > >
> > > Using a proper modem is far and away the best approach.  They're hardly
> > > expensive these days.  Not like when I started out;  A 300/300 &
> > > 1200/75 baud modem cost £125.  That was in the 1980s.
> > But they're not cheap: we're talking about an analog modem that does V92 
> > protocol. NewEgg has 2: one for $76.99 and one for $244.99 both U.S. 
> > Robotics.
>
> How necessary is a modem really?  Especially on a laptop?  Seems like
> wifi support would be faster, easier and all around more accessible in
> this day and age.

This day and age in the first world. Where I am there still telephone 
wires hanging all over the place.

Hugo