3DVelocity would like to thank Zoltrix and especially Wallace Lam for their help and courtesy in providing this Modem for review.

Testing :

DFI AK75-EC Motherboard
Athlon (Tbird) 1GHz @ 1GHz (100MHz FSB)
256MB PC133 SDRAM

So, how do you test a modem? I for one don't know of any genuinely accurate ways to test a modem that give anything approaching 100% accuracy across the board. The way I decided to test was to use the Smart Spirit and a generic HCF winmodem (with onboard DSP) and then use the various online test sites. The generic modem is one I've used many times before, and has notched up some superb reliability and performance results even against the big name hardware modems. In fact, when I test a system for someone who is suffering connection or performance problems, this generic modem is often the one I slot in to see if the problems are hardware, software or line condition related.

Each test was run five times for each modem, and after each test the connection was closed, the system rebooted and the connection re-established. Any results that were way off the mark were discarded and rerun, and a screen capture was made for every result. At the end, the result that most closely matched the average was used. If this sounds like the most boring piece of benchmarking ever undertaken, I assure you........it was!

The whole ordeal was made worse by the fact that I wasn't really expecting to see any measurable difference between the two modems as both used the same Conexant made HCF chip. Although the generic modem wasn't V92 ready, neither is my ISP so I saw this as a pretty fruitless exercise to begin with. Eventually, in the interest of all things scientific and time consuming, I decided to press ahead and see what came of it and I have to say the results did surprise me a little. Let me emphasise again that these tests are run with modems adopting the V90 standard, and at no point did the Spirit's V92 capability come into play.

 

Generic modem Upstream test

 

Smart Spirit Modem Upstream test

 

Generic Modem Results

 

Smart Spirit Modem Results

 

 

Generic Modem 200k Download Results - 0.32 Mbps

 

Smart Spirit Modem 200k Download Results - 0.45 Mbps

 

Generic Modem 1MB Download Results - 0.35 Mbps

 

Smart Spirit Modem 1MB Download Results - 0.40 Mbps

 

Generic modem Downstream test

 

Smart Spirit Modem Downstream test

 

Conclusion :

As you see, the Smart Spirit 56K edged out my beloved generic modem in almost all the tests, and though these results can't really be seen as definitive scientific evidence, they do point to the fact the Zoltrix have done something very right in the creation of this modem.

My biggest concern is linked to availability, and a quick scan through the usual places failed to find this modem listed on any of them. As a result I can't even guess at what the street price is likely to be.

The Spirit came bundled with a free condenser microphone, drivers and a full version of Thought Communications' excellent Fax Talk software, though not quite the current version (4.5.3 is supplied on the CD).

Although I can't say that the performance results of the Spirit are 100% accurate, I can say that in two weeks of use, it has performed impeccably, with constant high data transfer rates and 100% reliability. I have only ever lost a connection as a result of closing it myself, which is pretty impressive in my book. I'd like to see modem manufacturers include pass through cables with their modems these days. Almost all sound cards have a line in jack, and if you want to use the speaker phone function, it's easier to route it through your sound card's line in socket than rush out and buy yet another set of amplified speakers exclusively for the job. Even when the modem has an internal connector for plugging into the sound card (the Spirit doesn't), the cable is hardly ever supplied.

The Winmodem should no longer be seen as the poor relative of the "real" hardware modems available, and the price savings can make the software modem a very tempting proposition for those on a budget. Of course if hardware modems are your bag, Zoltrix also produce a full range of these too. Zoltrix have put together a good package of software and hardware, and once ISP's adopt the V92 standard fully, we should see this product begin to bare its teeth fully. All in all an excellent product that deserves some serious consideration when you decide to upgrade.