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Shark Leopard Pocket USB Modem
by By Cathy Grammer-Margolin NOCCC, inventor00@pobox.com - February 21, 2000 at 12:59:35:
Cool USB product!The Shark Multimedia (www.sharkmm.com) has a fantastic USB pocket modem. I did not think I could get excited about another modem. I thought all had been done! Their USB 56K V90 pocket modem (called the Leopard ) is tiny (3 5/8 inches long, 1 1/2 inches wide and 3/4 inches deep), teal blue translucent (fits the Imac color schemes, though for the PC!) and very portable.
Shark USB 56K V90 Pocket Modem— First off, it is USB, so no PCI card is needed for a laptop, nor is desk space needed for an external modem. Yet you can still see if it is connecting or not! In fact, since we all need desk space, I used the Shark Multimedia 3 port USB hub to hang off the back of my computer, then hooked the Shark USB modem from it and no space was taken up! It does not use external power (it takes a small amount from the USB connection), so no need to worry about another connector/AC adapter left behind in a hotel room. Another great feature is the price (about $70 at www.beyond.com.http://www.beyond.com/PKMM100717/prod.htm/?).
It takes a standard RJ-11 phone connector at one end and a USB connector at the other end. It does require a Pentium 200 Mhz PC, 16 meg or RAM , Windows 98, and 20 Mb of hard disk storage space for its voice, voice mailbox, fax, and data programs. Periodic flash upgrades are available from their web site. There is a 5 year warranty.
Specifications—http://www.sharkmm.com/products/docs/leopardUSB.htm
Installation—USB is usually easy to install and this was also. The first time I plugged it in, Windows Plug and Play (yes, Plug and Pray) actually prompted me for the driver CD that comes with the Shark modem. It installed very nicely. I also then went to AOL version 5 to install it and yes, there was a specific driver (in the AOL software) for this modem.
There is a status LED icon in the system tray that tells you, once you connect, the status of your modem such as what speed you connected at, the last throughput, the time you have been connected, the compression and the port you are using (in my case COM4). There is an LED light on the modem itself, that tells you when you are connected or not online. The nice thing is that it doesn’t use any IRQs or PCI slots. The advantage of a USB modem is that it is hot-swappable. You can just take it off when you are done and not have to start or stop anything.
Included is Shark’s own DialTone voice mail, fax and terminal emulation software. It has multi-user voice mail boxes, automatic paging features (including fax), and automatic voice/fax/data call switching. It has so many features, it would take years just to try them all! I would consider this a great addition to any home office to manage voice mail, fax and data.
Shark Multimedia USB 56K Pocket Modem, www.sharkmm.com
Cost—$70 at www.beyond.com
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