I’ve been in the IT industry for going on 10 years and surprisingly I’m only now realising how often certain questions come up…

It all becomes a bit of a daze after answering the same questions in and out! Any how.

I’m quite confident that not a single week has gone by where I have not been asked the following questions:

• “What Is The Best ADSL Modem?”
• “What Modem Is The Fastest?”
• “What Modem Is The Most Stable?”
• “What Brand Modem Is The Best?”

So with those three questions in mind, here are my honest & unbiased thoughts as to what modem you should spend your hard earned money on.

Integrity:

Warcom is in the business of selling adsl modems and networking gear, but we’re also in the business in providing our customers with modems that are fast,  reliable and won’t fall in a heap.

We have been doing this for a very long time now and the main reason we’re still here because we sell quality products.

If we sold boomerangs, ie: A modem that returned to us within a week or being purchased, we’d be out of business by now.

Profit:

We’re always approached to sell the ‘mum & dad modems’ that you find in the big chain stores and in hindsight, if we sold them, Warcom would probably make a lot more money, but we don’t and that’s that!

It is worth noting, most of these companies that approach us are considered in the industry to be  ’marketing companies’ as opposed to ‘hardware companies’  …

They some how (hint: > they have big marketing budgets) convince the ‘mum & dad market’ to buy their products instead of purchasing products from the smaller players, even when the small players hardware is vastly superior in just about every aspect.

Are Mum & Dad Modems That Bad?

• Most mum & dad modems are running two too three year old technology.
• Most mum & dad modems don’t even have built in voip, and if you’re lucky enough to have built in wireless. It’s rubbish anyway, and doesn’t ‘play nicely’ with all your hardware.
• Most mum & dad modems can’t even manage a few hundred connections to it (so if you plan on using torrent programs, don’t bother).
• A massive percentage of mum & dad modems fail and fail quickly – this percentage is far higher than failure rates in modems like Draytek.
• Most mum & dad modems don’t even have decent firewalls.
• Mum & dad modems are sold via most of the ISP’s because they are cheap and are sold because the ISP’s get massive cash kick backs from the manufacturers. To put it simple, ISP’s just hope for the best and hope you’re modem doesn’t die. If the ISP bothered to sell you a decent modem in the first place, they wouldn’t need half of their outsourced technical support departments in Dubai. And you would have less grey hairs.
• I could keep going – but I’m making myself depressed!

• Incidently …. If you happen to be using a mum & dad modem and you have had no issues with your modem – please do let us know, we may consider selling them. It’s unlikely though.

Alright – So What’s The Best:

Let’s cut to the chase – Draytek ADSL Modems are without a doubt, the best, the most reliable and the most stable modems sold in Australia. I have personally lost count the amount of Draytek I have installed for clients.

They’re fantastic – you set them up, you leave them alone and they just work and they keep working for years. I’ve had a Draytek 2600VG installed at my home for going on five years now and I’ve never had an issue with it.

We have Draytek Modems installed in our Melbourne and Brisbane offices, the VPN’s are ultra reliable, the connections are stable and the speed is great.

We sell thousands of Draytek’s a year to countless Australian businesses and consumers. Chances are if you have been into a Subway or a KFC store recently, there’s a Draytek sitting behind the counter powering their Intenet needs.

Conclusions:

• I value my time and the color of my hair.
• I don’t have the time to spend fiddling around with cheap, nasty, unstable hardware.
• Wasting time fiddling with dodgy hardware costs me time, it cost’s my business money and it’s not worth the headaches.

So if you’re in the same vote as me. The choice is  simple and that choice is Draytek.

All the best.
- Paul

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Hey guys,

This is just a quick introduction to our good mate Ched. He’s the resident Green Guy here at Warcom. Some say he has a striking resemblance to the All-mighty Paul Warren, others say he would blend in nicely at a garden show. Whichever the case, he’s here to stay. Please say hi to Ched if you pass him at any time during your travels.

Ched - The Warcom Green Guy

Cheers!

Popularity: 18% [?]

Time to pull the plug..

In an effort to devote more time to our more loyal and valued customers, please be advised that effectively immediately all Warcom staff members; including our managing director Paul Warren will no longer be answering  questions or comments pertaining to Warcom posted on the Whirlpool forums.

————–

Warcom has it’s own customer support forum located here: http://warcom.com.au/forums

We can be reached via phone on 1300 927 266 (Warcom) or 03 8339 0011 from 10:00am to 6:00pm daily. (wait times may vary subject to call loads)

And we can also reached via email at http://warcom.com.au/support

————–

Why have we made this choice?

Several years ago the Whirlpool forums were known as “The number one forum in Australia” where companies could communicate and interact with both with customers and IT professionals.

However, given the communities drastic decline in quality contributors, the abuse and the targeted slanderous comments, we have no choice but to remove our presence from whirlpool.

A vocal minority of Whirlpool members seem to believe it’s perfectly fine to jump up and down in order to get what they want by using the Whirlpool forums, and as the moderation and admin team condone this behavior we have no choice, but to no longer answer any Warcom related questions at all on the Whirlpool forums.

Therefore, moving forward — If you wish to resolve issues with Warcom,  we welcome you to please contact us via the previously mentioned means or contact Warcom management via feedback@warcom.com.au

We welcome comments on this article and look forward to continuing to serve our outstanding customer database of (50,000+) that we have built up over the last ten years of being in business.

Sincerely,
Paul Warren.

Popularity: 55% [?]

We’d like to hear your thoughts on Warcom. Please answer the following few questions. Feel free to leave any additional comments and suggestions.

Your feedback will be used to help better serve you!

Warcom Customer Survey!

Please note: None of the questions are required to be answered. Just complete as much as you wish, scroll to the bottom and hit submit!

To get cracking on the survey head here… Warcom Customer Survey!

Popularity: 1% [?]

Love it or hate it, Facebook has taken the world by storm with it’s fresh & innovative features.

So being the fresh & Innovate company that Warcom is, we figured it was about time we setup a Facebook Fan Page, where our loyal customers can interact with us!

We plan to run specials, promotions and competitions where you can WIN awesome products from Warcom simply by participating in our competitions.

If you’re not signed up with a Facebook account yet, it’s very easy to get started and become a fan of Warcom. All you need to do is follow this link and setup an account and you’re away!

Catch you there!

Popularity: 6% [?]

How do I enter?
Simply “follow” Paul Warren, Managing Director of Warcombetween today and May 1st 2009 on Twitter to automatically enter this contest. The winner(s) will be chosen at random on May 1st, 2009.

What’s the go?
We love Twitter, but we need more love from fellow Twitter users! So we’ve made it our goal to reach 5000 followers in 30 days.

By following Paul you get exclusive updates on new products, sales and give aways, and all the other funky warcom stuff!

To show our appreciation, you instantly go in the draw to WIN one of two ADSL Modems.

The Draytek Vigor 2710VN and the Linksys WAG160N.

Win a Draytek, Or a Linksys Modem!

Now what?
Start following Warcom today!

Head to: http://twitter.com/warcom and click “Follow”.

That’s it, you’re entered. If we reach 5000 followers before May 1st, we’ll give away more prizes!

–

Disclaimer: This competition is only available to Australian residents.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Most people do not realise that one of the most powerful social networking speed techniques, is right at their fingertips. It is called Groups, and it is your filing cabinet for online interaction.

Placing your contacts in groups allows you quick access to who you want – when you want it. Simply the act of grouping people together, creates a sub-niche inside your social network, that all share a common denominator.

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Popularity: 2% [?]

Today I have been asked by one of my twitter friends – Warwick Merry – The Get More Guy to write an article on social networking, and the affects it has had on my business.

So without further adieu – here we go!

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Popularity: 3% [?]