>>I had two computers made up at a local computer shop. They are identical except for the modems. The shop ran out of their usual Trendware modem, and substituted a U.S. Robotics modem bought retail for one of them. Both machines now sit on the same desk, dialing the same Earthlink number on the same phone line, to which they are connected in series. The U.S. Robotics modem reports "57Kbps" and the Trendware modem reports about 24Kbps at my home, but about 50Kbps in the shop (so they wouldn't replace it under warranty). I ordered the same model U.S. Robotics modem from Overstock.com and it also ran slow, even though the driver it installed was the same. That modem broke almost immediately anyway. While playing with modems, I tried installing the good, fast U.S. Robotics modem from my machine in the other machine, and it reported the same slow speed. I also switched around the phone cords, using a fresh cord and setting it up so the slow modem wasn't downstream from the other
>>modem. Nothing helped. The driver for the fast modem was from 2001 and hadn't been updated.
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>>What could possibly make these two otherwise identical computers dial up at different speeds, but without the difference being apparent in the shop? The only differences between them are the CD-ROM/R/RW drives and the software installed in each. What can I try next?
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>Some USR modems have small amounts of non-volatile RAM (e.g. flash RAM) that is used to hold configuration settings. It may be that one or more of these settings is configured to a lower-than-optimal speed. If there is a USR utility setup program it might be able to display and/or let you adjust these settings (if they exist).
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>You could check the details of the property sheets for the modem while it's in each machine; you may find a difference.
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>Driver *may* have an effect, if an OEM driver is being used. Late-model versions of Windows usually support modems from most major vendors natively without any need for an OEM driver.
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>Finally, you could check BIOS settings in each computer. Some innocuous-looking settings like "Plug & Play OS installed?" actually have a major effect on the entire system (former should be set to "Yes" for all Windows OSs newer than NT4) by affecting IRQ assignments etc. Again, you could compare the two nominally "identical" machines and check for BIOS differences.

It's hard for me to imagine how a modem's own flash RAM configuration settings could change or affect its speed when put in two different computers.

The good modem, running fast in the first machine, is using an old driver file from April 2001. After installing in the second machine with no OEM or updated driver, it shows the same driver file. I believe the shop owner told me he didn't normally update the driver.

I will check the BIOS in each computer when I get home.

I might add that Verizon checked our phone lines some months ago and claimed that it was fine. We used to get disconnects quite often but we no longer do. I would also repeat that the cheap Trendware modem goes at a reasonable 50K in the shop. It seems like a combination of a mediocre phone line and a computer environment (hardware or software) that is somehow different.