external modems

Very bad product. Documentation did not match installation software. Software gave errors. Hawking website doesn't show this model. Tech support wait time in excess of 45 minutes. Tried to push through the installation, and it failed. Returned product.

I setup this product for my home use, thinking I may use it for a client too. The documentation is pretty sparse and the CD manual is not easy to read. THe documentation says that this is a multi-ptorocol device. This is actually correct but not in the traditional sense. In this case it appears that multiple protocols are REQUIRED for the server to work. In my case I desired to just use TCP/IP in a windows XP environment. The device appears to follow the Microsoft lead of requiring some type of Netbios to be present.

Not all of the admin tools work under XP, but enough work to get it functional.

Overall for the cost, it works. It could be lots better but what really can you expect from a device the size of a printer dongle. (If you know what a dongle is, you have been in the business too long, like me. For the uniformed, it is a security device typically attached to the parallel port of a PC to counter software piracy. In this case, the "dongle" is on the printer, not the PC.)

I read the reviews here, but decided to try it out anyway, as it is the cheapest alternative I could find. Having read here and elsewhere about the need to disable WinXP's firewall, I tried to do that before I started the installation. However, I couldn't find it anywhere on my PC, so I decided to go ahead and see what happened without messing with the firewall.

I was surprised at how easily this mini server installed. It took me less than 30 minutes to install it on three WinXP machines and one Win2000. I followed the instructions exactly as they were printed in the booklet, and didn't have to do anything extra. Very smooth and very easy. I highly recommend it... at least from my experience with it.