Modem/Lan Combo Card's A Good Deal
Windows Magazine
April 1996
John J. Yacono
The Jack of Diamonds Ethernet/28.8 modem combo card is aces in my book. It takes up just one Type II PCMCIA slot to deliver a winning hand of connectivity -- via its 28.8Kb-per-second fax modem, or over its 10BaseT Ethernet connector.
Thanks to Windows 95 driver support, it installs in seconds with no fuss. Its power management is also well thought out. Power management is separate, so the modem can be asleep while the Ethernet portion is in full swing and vice versa.
In my tests at 28.8Kbps under Win95, I never once had a connection go awry or perform at a phone-line speed less than 26.4Kbps.
But the modem's story doesn't end with great performance. The fax modem section supports MNP10BC for cellular communications. The modem also has Smart Cellular support, which automatically sets your initialization string for land-line or cellular connections.
As of this writing, Ositech is promising to provide an enhanced modem driver via the Web or its ftp site. The company will also bundle the new driver with newly shipping product.
There are accessories for the card's LAN adapter, too. One accessory, called the Deuce, acts like a mini-hub that's powered by your laptop. It connects your laptop to the network between your desktop PC and the wall-mounted LAN connector, granting both the desktop and laptop simultaneous access to the network.
Using a special cable that's included, you could connect the laptop to two PCs to form a mini-network. Using multiple Deuces, you could even create a small network of laptops. The Deuce lists for $129, but until the end of April its introductory price is $79.
For performance, power consumption, and ease of setup and use, the Jack of Diamonds is definitely the card to draw.
-- John J. Yacono
