Product Reviews

Modems are quite simple things compared the other stuff you plug into your PC, such as monitors or printers. Costs are low and therefore it isn't hard for manufacturers to turn-in excellent products at bargain prices.

Therefore it's the little things that make one such device stand out from the crowd. Top marks go then to the Zoom which came with a detailed illustrated manual with a problem solving section, as well as notes on setting-up video phones.

The Zoom comes with Communicate!, a voice/fax program we haven't seen before. In use it takes user friendliness

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to a new level, offering an entirely icon-based display. All the functions are accessed through an on-screen display of a phone and answering machine. Clicking on the answering machine tape controls, for example, plays your messages, just like a real-life machine.

There is a fly in the ointment, however. The software appears to be incompatible with Windows 98. When the CD autoruns it recommends installing Win32s, an old Windows 3.1 add-in that allowed it to run 32-bit programs. Installing this on Windows 98 is a nonsense. The prompt doesn't appear with Windows 95, where the installation runs smoothly.

But what about performance? How fast can it get those web pages down the line? We tested the Zoom at V.90 standard and downloaded a 1.4Mb test file containing the usual kind of files found on the Net.

The fastest modem we've tested did the job in a mere 3.54 minutes, but lagging somewhat behind was the Zoom, which managed 4.25 minutes, a whole half minute late. This might not sound a lot but can make all the difference between a zippy and sluggish Internet experience. Along with installation problems, this probably isn't the modem to get.