Hayes Hops On Modem Upgrade Bandwagon

September 7th, 2007

The products won’t arrive on store shelves for at least a month, but the advertising hoopla surrounding 56-kilobit-per-second modems continues to swirl.

To win your business, modem vendors including Boca Research, Cardinal Technologies, and Motorola have announced trade-in and upgrade programs. Now Hayes has joined in with a promotional offer. It’s good news if you must buy a modem immediately.

Anyone who buys a Hayes Optima or Accura 28.8- or 33.6-kbps modem between now and April 15 will be eligible for a free 56-kbps upgrade, according to Hayes.

If you own a different type of Hayes modem, you’ll qualify for an $89 trade-in. If you own a modem of any other brand, the trade-in price is $99. You’ll have to pay a $15 shipping and handling charge with any of the three offers.

But shoppers may want to wait to compare the details of the many upgrade and trade-in offers. Most companies, including Hayes, haven’t given all the specifics.

Hayes did not announce the date when it will start to offer these upgrades and trade-ins. Other vendors, such as Boca, have not even finalized upgrade and trade-in pricing.

The industry has not yet settled its differences regarding two rival 56-kbps standards being promoted by Rockwell and U.S. Robotics. (Hayes supports the Rockwell standard.) Products incorporating each standard are expected to arrive this month and next, but the modems will not work with each other. Also, it’s still unclear whether most Internet service providers will support both modem protocols.

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