56K USB external fax modem

Question

I ordered this New 56K USB V9.0 V.92 External Dial Up Voice Fax Data Modem for Windows7.

Now I found that it is NOT supported by windows 7 64 bit. I have 2 questions :

1. Does that USB modem need any installation or just connect its USB is required?
2. Is there any solution to work with that USB modem in windows 7 64 bit too?

Answer 1

A device of this type would require a driver to interface properly and fully with the computers operating system. It is likely that they did not have a driver that would work with the OS as they specifically state that it will not work with 64bit OS.

Because drivers access memory at a lower level, it became important for the driver to work with the memory as "64bit" memory addressing. That is unlike software which can be run in compatability. Somone would have to re-write the drivers to work properly with the 64bit.

The cost of such a device in these years would be much lower than it would be 15 years ago, so finding another that does have proper 64bit drivers would probably be easier than trying to stuff some driver in that may partly work.

You could downgrade the OS, or get hardware that supports the new stuff, I wouldnt even try myself.

Answer 2

The problem is most likely that this is a so-called softmodem. In "traditional" modems, the modulation and demodulation (the signal processing that the name derives from) was mostly done in hardware. The interface to the computer was standardized (serial connection with Hayes command set), so they worked without special drivers. However, computers can easily do that in software, so newer modems often off-load this task to the main computer to perform in software, hence "softmodems".

The problem with this approach is that these modems require special drivers for the computer, to do the software part. Traditionally, these drivers were only available for MS Windows, meaning the modems didn't work under Linux, hence they were sometimes called winmodems.

Ironically, modern versions of Windows do not support these devices either, as the old Windows drivers no longer work.

To make a long story short - the device will not work under Windows 7 64 bit, unless you find drivers, or write them yourself.

You will need to find another modem. Either one with Windows 7 drivers, or a traditional serial modem (however, this will need a serial port, which most modern coputers lack).