Review on Zoom 3095 Mini External Modem by Robert Kimble

Bought for my new Mac mini with OS X Mavericks. GOOD - it REALLY worked fine for a few days after the initial setup. THE BAD - the installation instructions are very confusing. A call to tech support cleared up the confusion - setting up the modem is actually pretty easy if you throw away the instructions. DANGEROUS - the modem failed after about 5 days and I sent it back for a refund. Also, I think it's fair to say that the new Mavericks OS is NOT very dial-up friendly - webpages will load about halfway and then freeze. The modem worked, but the operating system just wouldn't let it work. I suppose that trying to keep loading pages for hours just ended up burning the modem. It seems that external USB modem technology is quite vulnerable - other reviewers have mentioned that they don't stand up well to thunderstorms. I replaced the Zoom modem with a US Robotics 5637 modem. Most pages still load about halfway and then freeze. Eventually the US Robotics modem overheats and the connection drops, and I just go back to my old Dinosaur MicroSoft computer. It seems to me that dial-up technology is dying out whether we like it or not.