Superhighway 288 Modem

Martin Milner/999 Software

I bought my first modem, a US Robotics Sportster VI 14400 just over a year 
ago and was very pleased with it. It cost me nearly œ110 and connected to 
my Falcon it worked first time and has given very little trouble. However, 
as the amount of time I spent on-line gradually increased both on CIX and 
on the Internet, the more I thought about buying a faster modem.

Then one day a brochure for a company called Betterbox dropped through my 
door and I saw they were selling 28800 modems for half the price of my 
Sportster! This finally made me take the plunge and send off for one (a 
superhighway 288) to see what they were like.

The modem arrived quickly as Betterbox sent it by courier and I quickly 
unpacked it keen to see what had been done in order to keep the price 
down. Although the modem case was nowhere near as fancy as the USR modem, 
it did appear to be well built. There was no modem cable, so I used the 
one I'd got ith the USR modem, and there was no printed manual. However, a 
full manual is sent on disk in both ascii and Windows Write format, but ST 
owners should note that it's on a HD disk. (See boxout). There was also a 
useful troubeshooting guide and some Windoze comms software. (As  always!)

Connecting the 288 with the telephone cable supplied with the USR didn't 
work, but replacing it with the cable supplied with the new modem cured 
the problem and everything then worked fine. Upping the line speed in 
Stik's config file, I did some 'surfing' and was pleased to note that page 
downloads ere noticeably quicker. I then did a blink with CIXCOMM and it 
was much faster. Excellent!

I've been using it for some weeks now and am very happy with it. One bonus 
it gave me was for dialup work from home. Where I work, they have a 
security dialback system in place and previously although I could connect 
to the machine at work, the USR modem would drop the line after a short 
period. Until I tried the new modem, I thought it must be the software I 
was using, but when I tried it with the Superhighway, it worked first 
time!

Betterbox have now brought out a faster modem, the Superhighway 336, which 
is priced at œ79 excl. VAT. A very good price, I think. However, as always 
the prices of both are bound to drop over the coming months.

Conclusion

Well, as long as you remember about the lack of a printed manual (or a 
disk version on DSDD disk) and modem cable, the 288 comes highly 
recommended for the price. An ideal upgrade for someone who's already got 
a slower modem and who wants to upgrade.

** Picture Caption **
A picture of the Superhighway 288 taken with my Casio QV-10 digital 
Camera.
** end of caption **

 Product:- Superhighway 288 modem  80%
   Price:- œ59 excl. VAT (œ6.50 for courier)
    Spec:- V.34 (28800bps), V.32bis (14400bps) and slower speeds.
           Class 1 Fax interface, no voice support.
Supplier:- Betterbox Communications Ltd.
           43 Burners Lane South
           Kiln Farm
           Milton Keynes
           MK11 3HA.
     Tel:- 01908 560200

Pros:- Works well.
       Excellent value for money.

Cons:- No printed manual.
       No modem cable.