USR X2 Upgrade????
Richard Gamberg
Jim Cummings wrote in article <33ca758e...@news.snip.net>...
>"Romano Sy" <rt...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>>Has anybody ever received their upgrade to x2 tech? It has been my fourth
>>e-mail to US Robotics requesting about the upgrade since January 1997 and
>>I'm just getting tired of them not responding. Whatever happened to their
>>customer service???? Probably, a class action lawsuit will get a
favorable
>>response from them!!!!!
>
I think they're too busy trying to figure out why x2 doesn't work is some
secret percentage of instances....
From USR's web site "Troubleshooting x2 problems" document
for ISPs. http://totalservice.usr.com/x2shoot4.pdf
It says, in part:
================
THE FOLLOWING ARE SERIOUS ERRORS. IF YOU SEE THEM
PLEASE CALL U.S. ROBOTICS TECHNICAL SUPPORT.
Conditions that produce these errors are extremely rare. They will most
likely be resolved in future code updates.
Unspecified negotiation failure
x2 should have worked, but didn t. Follow the client troubleshooting
steps
and see
if this problem exists when calling different, known x2-capable,
hosts. Collect as much data as possible and call U.S. Robotics
Technical Support! It will be very valuable to help engineering root
out the cause if they know whether you are never able to achieve x2
or if the problem arises only when calling certain
destinations!
=================================================
I don't know what they mean by extremely rare, but try do a USENET Alta
Vista Search on usr x2 problem. Plenty pages.
What USR is saying here is that all the criteria they think is necessary for
an x2 connection are met, but for a reason they don't know, it doesn't work.
Try and find that spending a few minutes on their web site.
When I bought this Courier, v.32 was the standard, and USR had "lost"
with their early HST high-speed technology that was first to market with
near giveaways to BBS operators in an effort to gain market share. I got
it with a coupon for a free upgrade to 28.8 (firmware), and the promise
of future upgradability. Until this x2 fiasco (I think it's gonna get
out of control), they released products that pretty much WORKED, and if
they didn't, it usually was a hardware problem that could be FIXED with
a repair or replacement. This non-working (in "extremely rare" cases)
problem is a different story. They say it "will most likely be fixed"
with future firmware updates. I think they've got the Mars rover
computer working on this one, and it may take a little longer…..
I registered my USR Courier external modem in Feb 97 in time for a "free"
upgrade to x2 - originally promised for March 97. If I had plunked down
the $60 bounty they want now, I would be STEAMING. Just today, 7/18, USR
posted their first "update" 3/97 release of Courier x2 firmware - and it
DOESN"T FIX the
problem. IBM is the only provider on this island "up" with x2, but that
means a LOWER speed connection with a handshake that lasts over 60
seconds before carrier unless you DISABLE x2. USR "escalated" my trouble
call of June 23 to a "special group" that "believe it or not calls
everyone back" that is working on the problem. They just can't tell you
when that might be. This year? Shoot, you can call the USR Courier
"TotalJoke Support" TODAY (800-231-8770) and you'll hear instructions on
what to do IF
you registered for the Courier upgrade and don't receive it by March 31
of this year - as if that date hasn't yet arrived. These guys are so out
of touch and have such a lousy web site that it will take you a little
while to realize that your ONLY option for support is to call their 800#
M-F from 3am-noon hawaii time and WAIT ON HOLD F O R E V E R. Any
promising e-mail address you might find on their support site will only
be answered by a robot. And God forbid if you have a problem with a
Sportster, because your only option then becomes to wait on hold forever
while YOU pay the toll charges, or call a 900 number. And if they
finally do come out with some firmware to fix the product you plunked
down good money for, you'll be able to download the DUMBEST wizzard I've
ever seen from their web site, which will FORCE you to make a TOLL CALL
to their BBS to download the actual firmware. You cannot get it on the
web through your ISP account. Does USR have a deal to get long-distance
revenue kickbacks? There isn't another computer
vendor I deal with that doesn't offer their fixes through the web. And,
if you've got the x2 incompatibility that causes your modem to connect
at 12.2 or maybe up to 21.6 instead of the 28.8 you could have if you
disabled x2, your toll call will last twice as long because the wizzard
is smarter than you and will take care of all the modem settings - and
it knows better than you and will enable x2. And unless they've changed
the latest release, it won't tell you until after its spent well over an
hour on that toll call that you already have the LATEST CODE!!!! It
doesn't tell you how long you've been on-line, how much data has been
transferred, or how much is left to transfer. If you have an internal
modem, you don't even know if anything at all is coming down, because
all it says is "Downloading….." Gee. And that Sportster I bought on
June 24 from Wal-Mart had an insert giving me a special 800# for
installation assistance through APRIL 30, 1997. Wow. But, Wal-Mart will
take it back if it doesn't work, right? Well…. They tried to tell me it
was SOFTWARE and subject to their "no refund" policy on opened software.
Right. Fight. The assistant manager finally gives in after I refuse to
take another one because I know it not gonna work either. Heck, I tried
it on more than 1 phone line in more than 1 computer at different locations.
So, it's the local phone company's fault that x2 doesn't work when they give
you "crystal clear" all-digital local voice connections that meet ALL the
requirements USR says you need, and it happens in areas served by: GTE, Bell
Atlantic, Bell South, NYNEX, SouthwesternBell, PacTel..... and......
Please. Get real.
I saw some USR propaganda that says they expect that x2 will not work in
about 5% of the cases. My suspicion is that they severely underestimated
this - but, I guess I just haven't found the right place to look to find
their TOTALLY OPEN discussion of these issues and how many users are
actually affected.
Now, I guess if I was one of the lucky ones that actually could use x2 at
ANY speed, I'd think it was great, and feel a small amount of compassion for
the "rare, unfortunate few" who can't get anything but one big run-around
while USR tries to develop a fix and tries to lay the blame on everything
from here to Mars. I should be so lucky.
-Richard-