Date   : Thu, 20 Jan 1983 11:48:00-PST
From   : fylstra@sri-tsca
Subject: 212 modems

I'm becoming interested in purchasing one of the new 103/212
"intelligent" modems such as the DC Hayes Smartmodem-1200 or the
Novation 103/212 modem.  In addition to originate/answer 103 and 212
modes, these modems provide rotary and DTMF dialing as well as ring
detect.  They generally contain an internal micro such as a Z8 and
commands and status replies are communicated between the host and the
internal micro via an RS-232 interface.  The best discount prices I
have seen so far are in the neighborhood of $550 for the DC Hayes.

I would like to hear from people who have experience with or opinions
about any of these modems as well as other modems I may be unaware of.
I have read the review of the DC Hayes 103-only Smartmodem.
Communicating commands on the same port as the data transmission is
obviously going to cause problems unless there is a technique for
out-of-band signalling, and even so, status reports of events such as
remote disconnect may be impossible to report in a manner
distinguishable from the data stream.

Dave Fylstra