Introduction

Modems? Who still uses modems?

Sitting here in our offices with our nice T1 line, we sometimes forget about our less fortunate broadband impaired brothers and sisters. A good number of our readers have also adopted high speed cable or DSL connections, but the most people are still using regular analog modems to connect to the internet.

Many people stick to analog modems because that's all they need. Sure, having an "always on" connection is nice, but it isn't necessary for most people. For casual web surfing and e-mail, 56kbps is perfectly fine, but those who have a penchant for large files or online gaming will want a better connection.

We understand that not all analog modem users are staying with 56k by choice. Many would love to get a cable or DSL connection, but service might not be available in their area, or the cost might be too high. With new technology, proper deployment is always an issue. We know of one local gamer that has tried to get PacBell DSL installed for almost a year now, and after months of delays (he's right on the service area border), he finally has his DSL connection.

Internet Gaming Modem

For those that aren't lucky enough to live within a high bandwidth service area, the regular analog modem is the only link to the internet. Granted, online gaming is much more enjoyable over a high bandwidth connection, but playing over a modem can still be very fun as long as you have a decent ping.

When 3Com first announced their Internet Gaming Modem a little over a month ago, we received a good number of review requests from readers.

The 3Com press release was very interesting, and one claim in particular caught our attention: "Henderson Communications Laboratories, an independent testing lab, concluded that the 3Com Internet Gaming modem achieved up to 43 percent faster weighted average ping times than five other competitor modems."

Wow, 43% faster? We have to review one of these modems! Does the 3Com U.S. Robotics Internet Gaming Modem really live up to the hype? Read on to find out more about the card how it performed in our tests.