[hcflinux] Re: My bottom line.

[Marc Boucher]

Most of the controllerless and soft modems nowadays are actually
very low-cost hardware devices that just interface to the phone line
to play and record audio (a bit like a sound card), detect rings,
and switch off/on hook, and can be produced quite cheaply
in large volumes. The complexity/intelligence has moved to the software,
which implements all the protocols and signal processing / modulations.

The low cost of Windows modems is largely a result of the extremely high
sales volumes; allowing amortization of driver development cost to millions
of units which isn't possible for linux yet.

If you value strong Linux support, my personal (and obviously biased
but perhaps not totally uninformed) opinion is that we have the
best software modem drivers around for Linux, professionally maintained and
actively developed.

If you consider that this isn't worth the relatively small price difference and 
that the competition might provide a better deal, feel free to go for your
best option but beware of false economies.

Also our move is in fact essentially a way of asking for contributions to
keep the project going. We had a lot of demand from users but it was difficult
to fulfill it without pooling resources. Now if people contribute we have a good
chance of continuing to improve things and as the volumes increase the price
will most likely drop. But if nobody cares or supports us, we (and Linux) will
stay stuck in a unfortunate chicken-and-egg situation.

Also you might not have to pay again next year. The policy is that we will provide
upgrades at no cost for *at least* a year, but perhaps longer, depending
on the situation. Also, the linux os-specific code (all the kernel-related stuff)
is all open and commonly shared with the free version.

In any case, thanks for the feedback,
Marc

PS: fyi, PCTEL's modem business was recently acquired by Conexant.

On Mon, Sep 08, 2003 at 10:45:29PM -0400, azajac at vif.com wrote:
> I'm going to keep an eye on this list to track the fallout...
> 
> I know what it is like to run a buisiness, and I sympathise with you.
> 
> But,
> 
> I paid 14.95 Canadian dollars (plus tax) for my HSF modem.  The modest cost of
> the new-and-improved driver (in US dollars) is more than what I originally paid
> for the device.
> 
> I can pay 14.95 Canadian dollars for a controllerless PCTEL modem which has a
> working linux driver.
> 
> I can pay about ten dollars to get a Smart Link AMR modem with the same
> characteristics.
> 
> Had you asked me yesterday for a contibution to keep the project going, I would
> have considered it.  To charge me today for the driver and to think that if I
> upgrade my kernel next year I will have to pay again does not sound like a smart
> purchase.
> 
> Good luck.
> 
> AZ.
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