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Apple MA034Z/A External V.2 USB Modem
See it at Amazon.com for $49.99Average Customer Rating
(4.0 out of 5)
Amazon Customer Reviews
Most Helpful First | Newest First | + Share3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Elegant package, but consider alternatives
(4 out of 5) by P. Sichel on Oct 16, 2009The Apple USB Modem is a controllerless or software modem based on the Motorola SM56 design. The advantages of a software modem are low cost, low power consumption, and compact design. The disadvantage is that modem processing is offloaded to a specialized driver that runs on the host computer. In this case, Apple has customized Motorola's driver to produce a generally solid product.
At the time of this writing, Apple has discontinued the Apple USB Modem (MA034Z/A) but they are still widely available for around US$50.
Testing Notes: Software modems require a driver that can pump real-time audio like data to the modem's transceiver regardless of any other system software that may be running. In my own testing, I've found it's important to connect the modem to a reliable USB Hub as close to the host computer as possible. Apple's USB Modem driver generally worked well but could fail under certain conditions like launching Disk Utility with external FireWire drives attached. I tend to prefer controller based modems for their greater stability, but the Apple USB Modem is certainly an elegant and compact unit.
The US Robotics USB Modem (USR5637) is a traditional controller based modem from a manufacturer with a solid product history. The modem includes its own control processor which understands AT commands directly, so only a basic USB serial driver is needed. In my testing, this modem worked well.
The USR5637 is widely available for around US$50.
Testing Notes: The manual included with the modem is unclear about the installation procedure. You'll need to install the software from the included CD first, and then plug-in the modem for it to be recognized by Mac OS X. In the Network Preferences panel, select USB Modem, click Advanced, and set the Vendor to "Other". This modem is about the size of a cell phone (significantly larger than the Apple USB Modem).
I had no trouble running both the Apple USB Modem and USR Modem at the same time. I'm the developer of Phone Amego which uses USB modems for landline support. Having run both modems continuously over an extended period, I prefer the USR modem for its stability. It's more modem for about the same price.
At the time of this writing, Apple has discontinued the Apple USB Modem (MA034Z/A) but they are still widely available for around US$50.
Testing Notes: Software modems require a driver that can pump real-time audio like data to the modem's transceiver regardless of any other system software that may be running. In my own testing, I've found it's important to connect the modem to a reliable USB Hub as close to the host computer as possible. Apple's USB Modem driver generally worked well but could fail under certain conditions like launching Disk Utility with external FireWire drives attached. I tend to prefer controller based modems for their greater stability, but the Apple USB Modem is certainly an elegant and compact unit.
The US Robotics USB Modem (USR5637) is a traditional controller based modem from a manufacturer with a solid product history. The modem includes its own control processor which understands AT commands directly, so only a basic USB serial driver is needed. In my testing, this modem worked well.
The USR5637 is widely available for around US$50.
Testing Notes: The manual included with the modem is unclear about the installation procedure. You'll need to install the software from the included CD first, and then plug-in the modem for it to be recognized by Mac OS X. In the Network Preferences panel, select USB Modem, click Advanced, and set the Vendor to "Other". This modem is about the size of a cell phone (significantly larger than the Apple USB Modem).
I had no trouble running both the Apple USB Modem and USR Modem at the same time. I'm the developer of Phone Amego which uses USB modems for landline support. Having run both modems continuously over an extended period, I prefer the USR modem for its stability. It's more modem for about the same price.
Fantastic little connector.
(5 out of 5) by Jan M. Crabb on Oct 15, 2009 (Chariton, IA USA)Please tell Apple to never stop making these. I live in an area where we have lighting strikes a lot and don't want to have to have the internal modem fixed each time. This product is so easy to use -- I love it!
Thank you.
Jan Crabb
Thank you.
Jan Crabb
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Apple USB Modem
(5 out of 5) by Cubeit on Sep 18, 2009So far I haven't had a problem with it. It works fine, except my Internet is slightly slower, but that makes sense because the power has to flow through an external modem before reaching the computer. My advice: if you need a modem, get a computer with a built in one. If that isn't feasible, get one of these. There's not another solution that I know of.
MacBookPro External Modem
(5 out of 5) by Douglas Johnson on May 24, 2009 (Ormond Beach, Fl)This modem works very well. I needed a way to send and receive faxes from home with my MacBook and it does exactly what I needed. Easy to use and error free.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Apple USB modem works great
(4 out of 5) by Mac User on Apr 16, 2009 (IA)This modem worked great out of the box (bag?). I took a chance that this cute little match to my new MacBook w/Intel processor would work well, as the reviews seemed to be 50/50. So far so good. Yes, some of us still have only slow dial-up. The MacBook processor is fast, so surfing is faster than on my G4 tower and its internal modem. Speaking of which, it would've been nice if an internal modem had come with MacBook or if the USB type had been half the price, but other than that, no complaints.