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Still surfing the Web with a dial-up modem? You're not alone. Ninety percent of U.S. Web surfers connect at speeds of less than 56 kilobits per second. Fortunately, help is on the way: Two new dial-up modem standards promise faster speeds and new features to improve surfing the old-fashioned way.

The first and better known, called V.92, can boost theoretical upload speeds to 48 kbps, up from an average maximum of just 33 kbps with a dial-up modem that works with the current V.90 standard. If you have call waiting on your telephone line, V.92 supposedly will put modem connections on hold to take incoming phone calls. The other newly arrived standard, called V.44, improves compression and promises to make downloading Web pages snappier.

A couple of vendors now sell V.92 and V.44 modems. The modems, which cost about $15 more than their V.90 counterparts, are available from both U.S. Robotics and Zoom Telephonics, including the latter's Hayes division.

U.S. Robotics modems support only the V.92 standard so far; Zoom sells a modem that supports both new standards.

But though the modems are ready, your ISP must support V.92 for advanced features to work--otherwise the modem will operate no better, and possibly worse, than a V.90. Thus far, the big ISPs have been lukewarm toward the new standard. For example, MSN and EarthLink say they are still evaluating V.92. America Online says it's waiting to see if other ISPs support the standard before it commits.

Smaller ISPs may be more willing to adopt V.92, notes Nicholas Sten. He is manager of the network solutions group for Option One, which resells Internet access to 130 ISPs in California and elsewhere. "We see it as giving our smaller ISPs an edge over the AOLs of the world," Sten says.

Speed Bumps

A hands-on evaluation of U.S. Robotics and Zoom V.92 modems suggests that the more advanced aspects of the standard aren't completely ready for prime time.

When I tested the U.S. Robotics modem, its "modem on hold" feature worked less than half the time. When I tried the same function with Zoom's V.92 modem, an inbound telephone call severed my Net connection without warning. An informal test of the V.44 modem compression standard with Zoom's modem revealed no appreciable speed increases compared with U.S. Robotics V.90 modems.

But a "quick connect" feature did cut in half the time that either modem took to log on to a V.92-equipped service provider. Simultaneously, Zoom has begun implementing a feature that maximizes upload speeds to 48 kbps.

Both modem makers say that they are still trying to eradicate the bugs in their software and that they will provide upgrades to existing V.92 modem owners as they make improvements. U.S. Robotics also offers free upgrade software for many of its V.90 models. However, most older modems aren't upgradable.

Replacing an otherwise satisfactory V.90 modem with a V.92 model is still premature. But if you are shopping for a new modem anyway, buying a V.92 model could turn out to be a wise investment.

By fall, network infrastructures will slowly catch up, and your ISP may eventually offer a V.92 line for you to dial in to. If it does, you'll be ready.

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