Comparing a sportster modem to a Total Control chassis is like comparing a
square wheel and carriage to a modern BMW! USR only recently started the
flash upgradeable Sportster, I have a Courier that is 8.5 years old, was
originally a 16.8 modem that is now a 56K and I have actually connected at
59333 and maintained the connection for around a minute. The USR has the
ability to modulate the signal loss such that you can overpower and exceed
the FCC ruling that limits speeds around 53.3. The key is notifying the
teleco that you plan to overpower the line and hope the end user does not
have many extensions in their home. I have beta PRI's and beta chassis
that I have played with almost every conceivable setting and can say we
sold off all of our Ascend Max products after 5 months of head-to-head
comparisons.