I hate that damned Speedtouch USB modem...why why why does sympatico give this to customers? I managed to trade for the ethernet modem but now my grandfather has the damned thing.

Heres what it does:

I am supposed to install the drivers from the cd first, then plug in the POS..err modem and it auto-detects. In XP, this worked fine. Or did it? It is trying to renew an IP address.....but I haven't even done anything yet! 😵 This is because the usb modem creates a pseudo NIC connection that is used to add the Sympatico Connection. The sympatico one can be setup but wont connect due to the modem having no IP. I can't give the modem an IP because it doesn't work that way (and I tried and it doesn't help).

Why would the modem AND the connection need IP addresses? Who came up with this thing? 😠 It can't connect with a private IP and it can't connect with no IP so what does it want from me? A medal? No matter what settings I use for the sympatico connecton it doesn't help because thats not the issue. The issue is the modem won't go online without being 'active' which isn't possible without an IP.

Anyone else get this thing working in XP? I'm giving up and getting him the ethernet one since it makes more sense. Then I just plug it in and use sympatico can connect. Correct me if I'm wrong but USB is supposed to be easier? Guess its not the case with modems.