http://www.ComputerBob.com/reviews/review_zoom_modem.php .
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by ComputerBob
November 4, 2002
Last Updated November 12, 2005
Disclosure: I do not work for Zoom, I do not sell Zoom modems, and I am not affiliated with Zoom in any way. A Zoom sales representative sent me this modem for free, so that I could review it. The fact that I got this modem for free did not affect my objectivity in reviewing it.
For the past 3 weeks, I've tested a Zoom model 3049, external, serial port, 56K, V.92/V.44, voice/data/fax dial-up modem. I couldn't find its retail price, but, at the time of this review, it could be purchased from Best Buy stores for about $69 or from several different online stores for $61-71, plus shipping. The 3049 has its own on-board controller, so it doesn't slow your PC down by using Windows and your PC's brain to do its work.
The modem that came with my computer when I bought it in 1997 is an internal V.90 dial-up modem. That means that it meets all the standards and has all the features that were included in the V.90 specification, like the ability to connect to the Internet at up to 56K speeds over normal telephone lines. The Zoom 3049 modem supports a newer standard that emerged several months ago, called V.92. The V.92 standard includes all the previous V.90 features, plus several new ones:
If you'd like to learn more about the V.92 features and standards, or if you'd like to find Internet Service Providers in your area that support V.92, visit the V.92 Home Page. America Online (AOL) also lets you search its list of access numbers, telling you which ones provide V.92 access. In addition, United Online, Inc provides V.92 access, with the Modem on Hold feature, through its two national, low-cost Internet service providers, NetZero and Juno, after having selected modem manufacturer, Zoom, as its client modem launch partner.
The Zoom 3049 is an external modem, meaning that it uses a standard
serial (RS-232) cable (which must be purchased separately) 
to
connect to one of the external serial ports that can be found on the
back of nearly every PC. It also connects to any normal telephone line,
using a telephone cable that is included. My computer runs Windows 98
Second Edition, but the installation CD included software to install
it onto Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP. The fact that it is an external modem
and has its own controller also means that, unlike many cheaper modems,
this modem can also work with most Macintosh and LInux computers, though
it did not come with the required driver software for those other operating
systems.
The only printed documentation that came with this modem was a 7-page, illustrated Quick Start guide. Full documentation is included on the installation CD, in Adobe PDF format. The CD also contains Adobe Acrobat Reader software, required for viewing the PDF file, for those who don't already have it. While it is good to have access to the complete documentation on the CD, I'm confident that most people will be able to install this modem by just following the step-by-step instructions in the Quick Start guide. In fact, the software CD installed the required modem software without any problems, after just a few clicks. I left my older, internal V.90 modem connected, so that I could run comparions between the two modems, but that didn't cause any problems for the Zoom modem's installation.
With that said, there is one confusing thing in the Quick Start guide, and one very important thing that is not even mentioned all in the Quick Start guide (see Modem on Hold, below). The confusing thing is that, near the bottom of page 2, it instructs the user to
Click Finish, exit any running programs, and shut down your computer. Continue below.
When I clicked Finish, the modem installation software restarted my PC instead of shutting it down. I wondered if I should shut down my computer after it had restarted, or if the restart had taken the place of shutting down my computer. I didn't know, so I manually shut off my PC while it was still in the black-screen DOS commands step of restarting. Zoom should correct the Quick Start guide so that it tells the user what to do when the intallation software restarts their PC.
The Quick Connect feature works perfectly, cutting several seconds off the time it normally takes to connect to my ISP. It's not a big deal, but it's a nice feature.
As you can see from the table below, the Zoom 3049 V.92 modem gives me faster connection speeds to my ISP than my older, internal V.90 modem. I haven't attempted to measure the speed that particular Web sites display with the Zoom modem, compared to my older modem, but, after using it for 3 weeks, my general impression is that, for nearly all of the Web sites that I normally visit, the Zoom modem displays pages noticeably faster than my older modem. This is undoubtedly due to the combination of connecting to my ISP at a faster speed, and the Zoom modem's more efficient V.44 compression.
| Comparing Connection Speeds | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Criterion |
LT V.90 Internal Modem |
Zoom V.92 External Modem |
Difference |
| Slowest Connection bits per second (bps) |
24,000 | 44,000 | 83% |
| Fastest Connection bits per second (bps) |
38,666 | 49,333 | 28% |
| Normal Connection bits per second (bps) |
38,666 | 48,667 | 26% |
As you can see from the table below, the Zoom 3049 V.92 modem uploads files at twice the speed of my older V.90 modem when I send new or edited files to my Web site's server in Colorado. If you compare the Upload Speed table (below) to the Connection Speed table (above), it appears that only about 1/4 of the speed difference is due to the Zoom modem connecting to my ISP at a faster speed.
| Comparing Upload Speeds | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Criterion |
LT V.90 Internal Modem |
Zoom V.92 External Modem |
Difference |
| Normal Connection Kilobytes per second (KBps) |
3.10 | 6.22 | 100% |
As you can see from the table below, the Zoom 3049 V.92 modem downloads software from the Internet significantly faster than my older V.90 modem. If you compare the Download Speed table (below) to the Connection Speed table (above), it appears that about 1/2 of the speed difference is due to the fact that the Zoom modem is connecting to my ISP at a faster speed.
| Comparing Download Speeds (software) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Criterion |
LT V.90 Internal Modem |
Zoom V.92 External Modem |
Difference |
| Normal Connection Kilobytes per second (KBps) |
3.10 | 5.13 | 65% |
As you can see from the table below, the Zoom 3049 V.92 modem downloads the 3MB mySQL database that runs ComputerBob's forums significantly faster than my older V.90 modem. If you compare the Download Speed table (below) to the Connection Speed table (above), it appears that only about 1/3 of the speed difference is due to the fact that the Zoom modem is connecting to my ISP at a faster speed.
| Comparing Download Speeds (mySQL database) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Criterion |
LT V.90 Internal Modem |
Zoom V.92 External Modem |
Difference |
| Normal Connection Kilobytes per second (KBps) |
5.10 | 9.80 | 92% |
In anticipation of reviewing the Modem on Hold feature, I contacted my local telephone company and had them install the required Call Waiting feature ($5.95/month) on my telephone line. Getting the Modem on Hold feature to work appears to be almost as much art as it is science. In order for it to work, your modem must support that feature; you must have separate Modem on Hold software installed on your computer; you must have your local telephone company's Call Waiting service on your telephone line; AND your ISP must have their equipment configured correctly to support Modem on Hold.
Unfortunately, the Zoom Quick Start guide didn't even mention the Modem on Hold feature, or how to install it. So, I assumed that it must have automatically installed that feature when it installed the other modem software. I was wrong. Several tests confirmed the fact that Modem on Hold was not working. Playing my instincts, I did a search of my computer's hard drive for moh, and found a folder named MOHAPP. Among many other files in that folder, I found a Setup.exe file and double-clicked it. A few seconds later, it had installed the Modem on Hold feature, and I saw a small telephone icon in my System Tray (in the corner by the clock). I right-clicked that icon, and opened the NetWaiting dialog box, which allows you to configure the Modem on Hold feature. I accepted all the default configuration options. Zoom should add step-by-step Modem on Hold installation instructions to the Quick Start guide, because I'm willing to bet that most users won't know enough to search their hard drives for a folder with moh in its name and then run the Setup.exe file inside that folder. And that means that most users will probably think that their new modem's MOH feature is broken.
Once I got NetWaiting installed, I called my wife and asked her to call me back in 3 minutes. Then, I connected to my ISP and started browsing the Internet. A few minutes later, the NetWaiting dialog box popped up, telling me that I had an incoming call, but it didn't give me any choice to accept or reject it -- all the icons were "greyed out."
It took several emails back and forth to Zoom Tech Support over the next two days, to determine what was causing the problem. A very knowledgable and helpful Zoom support person actually went to the trouble to contact my ISP and sign up for a test account, so that she could run some tests. I was very impressed with the helpfulness and professionalism of Zoom's Tech Support, but, to be fair, I have no idea if Zoom would provide that level of support to "a normal person" who was not writing a review of their modem. The good news is that my Zoom Tech Suport angel discovered and then informed my ISP that they did not have the Modem on Hold feature configured correctly on their servers, and she told them what they had to do to get it working correctly. The bad news is that that was 3 weeks, ago, and I'm still waiting for my ISP to make the changes to their equipment. They tell me that they're expecting new networking lines to be installed some time in the next 3 weeks, and they plan to shut down and re-configure the Modem on Hold equipment at that time. I hope they're telling me the truth.
I didn't want to wait on my ISP in order to test the Zoom 3049's Modem on Hold feature, so, on Zoom's suggestion, I signed up for a free (advertising-supported) ISP account at free/low-cost ISP, NetZero. When I connected to NetZero's local V.92 access number and redid my Modem on Hold test, it worked perfectly. My wife called me while I was connected to the Internet, and the NetWaiting dialog box popped up, telling me that I had an incoming call. If I had my telephone company's Caller ID feature (I don't), NetWaiting would've also told me the Caller ID information. I held my breath, clicked on the NetWaiting icon to accept the call, and picked up the telephone. My wife was on the line. Eureka! As we spoke, I noticed a timer in the NetWaiting dialog box, telling me that I had a little over 3 1/2 minutes to talk before NetZero would automatically disconnect me (that length of time is determined by each ISP). We talked for a minute or so, then I clicked on the NetWaiting icon to reconnect to the Internet. After about 15 seconds, I was once again able to browse the Internet.
So, if my ISP ever gets Modem on Hold configured correctly on their equipment, I will be able to connect to the Internet without missing any important telephone calls. And if they don't, I could temporarily switch to NetZero's Platinum service ($9.95/month for unlimited Internet access with no banner ads and "fewer pop-ups") until I found a paid local ISP that supports V.92/V.44 and Modem on Hold without any advertisements or pop-ups. I couldn't use NetZero's free service as my main ISP because it only includes about 10 hours per month of Internet access, and it displays large, slow-loading, annoying banner advertisements at the top of every Web page along with pop-up ads.
The Zoom 3049 is a very solidly built modem that performs exactly as advertised. It was easy to install and included optional software for sending/receiving faxes directly from your computer and using the modem for voice mail, plus it also included software for image editing, preventing pop-up advertisements, and signing up for America Online (which I don't recommend). I highly recommend the Zoom 3049 modem to anyone who's looking to replace their older modem with a newer, faster one; to anyone who wants to save time when they do uploads and downloads; and to anyone who wants or needs the Modem on Hold feature. Now that I've completed this review, I'm going to uninstall my older internal V.90 modem, and make the Zoom 3049 my only modem.
UPDATE: July 29, 2005 - It's been over 2 1/2 years since I wrote this review, and I'm still using my Zoom 3049 as my only modem.
UPDATE: November 12, 2005 - My Zoom 3049 modem served me well for 3 years, but I switched to a DSL Internet connection today. My local DSL provider's download speed is 15 times the speed of my dial-up connection, and its upload speed is 2 1/2 times the speed of my dial-up connection, yet it only costs $14.95 (USD) per month. That's only $5.00 more per month than I was paying for dial-up service. I'll keep using my Zoom 3049 modem whenever I need its fax capabilities, but I won't need it for Internet access any more.