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By now I'm sure almost everyone has heard about the miracle cure for Internet users who are complaining that it is taking too long to download Web pages. What is this cure? It's the new 56K modems. However, buyer beware! This technology isn't all it's cracked up to be and the good folks at Rockwell, Lucent, and U.S. Robotics aren't being 100% honest with the consumers. Sure it's possible, in theory, to get 56K out of these modems but you won't see me waiting in line to get the new speed demons.
So, what's my problem? Why wouldn't I want to move web pages and file downloads at 56,000 bits per second? Well, because it's not as simple as it sounds. Sending data over analog phone lines (just like the one in your home) at rates higher than 33.6K is just not theoretically possible. However, the engineers at companies like those mentioned above have discovered that they can squeeze more out the phone lines by utilizing the digital backbone of the phone company.
Let's say that you are connected to your Internet Service Provider and want to send some e-mail or surf the Web. For many ISP's the connection between you and the Internet would go something like this:
Converting the signal back and forth between analog and digital slows things down and keeps the theoretical maximum at 33.6K (if your lucky) and this is why your upstream traffic will always be bound to the 28.8K or 33.6K limit even when you have a 56K modem. Assuming that your ISP is connected to the phone company by a digital link, when they are sending data back to you it will stay in a digital form all the way through the phone company's central office until it reaches the circuit to come back to your house where it will be turned into an analog signal. By taking advantage of a nearly all digital route you can squeeze higher bit rates out and, if lucky, receive data at 56K. But, if your ISP doesn't have a digital connection or if your trying to connect to a friends computer you'll never get anything higher than 33.6K even if you have one of the new, fancy 56K modems.
Another drawback: Compatibility. Right now, there are at least 5 proposed standards for the 56K modems and none of them "talk" to each other, with Rockwell and U.S. Robotics being the big time manufacturers of this new breed of modems. Some might remember back in 1994 when the super fast 28.8K modems hit the shelves before the International Telecommunications Union, the people that set the global standards for modem design, had finished the standard for 28.8K. Thousands of modems were sold to consumers and many of these modems had to be sent back to the manufacturer for modifications when the standard was finalized at a cost of $40 to $80 as well as being without a modem for days while the modifications were being made. All the manufacturers are saying that once an official standard is set you'll be able up get an upgrade to the modem and Motorola is even promising a free upgrade.
So, what should you do if you are going to go ahead and make the move for 56K? First make sure that your ISP has a digital connection to the phone company, that they support 56K connections and make sure you buy the same brand modem that the ISP is using. For example, if they have installed X2 modems then you'll need to buy a X2 modem, if they have installed K56 Flex, you will need to buy a K56 Flex modem as well.
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