External modem-- USB or Comm ports?

[kenghoong]

I'm wondering which will perform better for dial up?

[pave_spectre]

I believe USB modems are often just external software modems, whereas a modem attaching to the com port will be a hardware modem.

For reliability I always prefer a hardware modem, but they are often considerably more expensive than software modems.

Which will perform better depends on line quality since software modems can struggle to maintain a constant connection if there is a lot of line noise.

If the line quality is good then a good quality software modem can perform satisfactorily. The diffficulty is in finding such quality.

Hopefully if I'm wrong about that USB-Software thing someone will correct me.

[classicsoftware]

The best performimg modems will be hardware based modems. I personally prefer the external serial port variety.