TRENDnet 56K USB 2.0 Phone, Internet, and Fax Modem TFM-561U (White) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a review of the TrendNET TFM-561U external USB modem, updated to report the finally-discovered cause and fix for a slow connection speed on Puppy. This modem has not gone through Microsoft's compatible-with-XP program; works fine for me but your mileage may vary.
Have XP Home SP3, PuppyLinux 4.3.1 LiveCD, and Microsoft 1016 USB Mouse on a Toshiba laptop. This modem works as well as my current US Robotics 5637 external USB modem on Windows and Puppy.
The Installaton Guide says not to use the Windows Hardware Installation Wizard but to use the autorun.exe installation program on the supplied CD instead and this is what I did. The Guide is excellent with pictures so you know exactly what to expect. One glitch: the USB mouse froze up immediately after installation was complete but began working normally again after unplugging and replugging the mouse in. Have had no interference between the modem and mouse since this one glitch.
The modem works well with Windows. Puppy, however, has a problem - the modem connects to my ISP just fine but was really slow. PROBE returns a MAXSPEED setting of 460800 and this is the cause of my slow connection speed on Puppy. Manually entering a MAXSPEED of 115200 or 57600 cures it. Think problem is at my ISP's end and not a modem problem.
FYI, either init string works (replace each underscore character with a space) with MAXSPEED=115200 or 57600.
ATQ0_V1_E1_S0=0_&C1_&D2S11_+FCLASS=0
ATQ0_V1_E1_S0=0_&C1_&D2_+FCLASS=0
BTW, this modem makes dialing noises on my laptop on Windows and Puppy (the USR does not), occupies about 1/2 the volume as and runs a tad cooler than the USR. I intend to use the TrendNET as my primary modem and keep the USR as a spare. Having had hands-on experience with both, I'd buy this modem again (~$28) before I'd buy another USR5637 (~$45) given its speed, smaller size, it's cooler, and it makes dialing noises! Since the original review was written, found out the modem stops making dialing noises on Windows after Windows Media Player is used but modem performance is unaffected and noises come back on reboot - just a glitch, not a show stopper, so will leave rating at 4 stars.

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