$20 is a fair price for stated purposes.. maybe - 'course with 3 machines - maybe one will be a Conexant clone; then it's 20/year if kernel upgraded.
TANSTAAFL.
Guess it's 14.4 free module-test time
Later:
no need.. scratch the HP notebook:
Puppy ID'd it as a ESS 'Super Link' modem. ESS says:
Q: Does ESS modem devices support Linux OS? <sic>
A: The DSP codes to handle modem communication on a Win Modem or host-based modem (HSP) is ESS intellectual property and is not available for Linux public code release. <sic\ufffd>
ESS only has limited support for Linux modem driver, mainly because Linux driver needs to be built differently based on its kernel version. For resource reason we can only work with OEM customers to provide Linux support based on requested build version. Please check with your hardware vendor for Linux support policy.
Swell - proprietary AND.. every new kernel build needs driver rework.
..all those dead modems in all those notebooks - designed by Rumsfeld-Doze LLC, maybe?