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- Path: news.compuserve.com!newsmaster
- From: 101321.2700@compuserve.com (Markus Hansmair)
- Newsgroups: comp.dcom.modems
- Subject: Anything above 28.8kbs is bosh!
- Date: Mon, 01 Jan 1996 18:28:53 GMT
- Organization: CompuServe Incorporated
- Message-ID: <4c994e$nsm@dub-news-svc-1.compuserve.com>
- NNTP-Posting-Host: ad61-130.compuserve.com
- X-Newsreader: Forte Free Agent 1.0.82
-
- Save your money and your nerves! Forget about purchasing a new modem or
- updating your old one to get more than 28.8 kbs.
-
- 1. Modems offering these new transfer rates will be buggy.
-
- Remember the trouble that came up when the first V.34 modems were
- introduced. It took the manufacturers one year to develop rather
- reliable modems. (This applies not only to USR.) The problem was (is)
- the modem firmware: Analysing line quality, dynamically adapting to
- degrading / improving line quality, sophisticated encoding and decoding,
- etc. make the firmware much more complex than for V.32bis.
-
- Transmission modes with more than 28.8 kbs are achieved by simply
- increasing the symbol rate. So writing firmware for these new
- 'standards' is possibly not as difficult as developing firmware for a
- completely new standard like V.34. But I'm sure that the first V.34+ (or
- V.whatever) modems will be buggy.
-
- 2. You will hardly ever get more than 28.8 kbs.
-
- The maximum transmission rate is limited by a line's bandwidth and
- signal / noise distance INDEPENDENT OF WHAT CODE IS USED. This is the
- fundamental statement of coding theory. It's not an opinion, it's proved
- to be true!
-
- Common telephone lines rarly offer the potential to transmit 28.8 kbs.
- See all the postings in this group complaining about only getting 21.6,
- 24.0 or 26.4 kbs with a V.34 modem. It's not the modem's fault. The
- lines simply have a slightly higher noise ratio and the modems make the
- best out of it. This is a common (not an exceptional) situation. If you
- don't believe this, measure the true transmission rate your modem offers
- in a real life situation. But it's not easy: Don't believe what the
- modem reports. They often say 28.8 kbs meaning V.34 transmission was
- choosen offering the potential of 28.8 kbs.
-
- So don't expect that a V.34+ (or V.whatever) modem breaks the natural
- laws and offers more than 28.8 kbs. This would need brilliant line
- quality you hardly ever find in real life.
-
- 3. V.34+ (or V.whatever) will never be an official standard
-
- Due to the above mentioned facts V.34+ will never become an official
- standard. Why elaborating a new standard that offers no benefits
- compared to V.34 in real life? V.34+ (or V.whatever) is simply a
- marketing gag. Standardization organisations have better (or more
- serious) things to do.
-
- So don't expect that V.34+ (or V.whatever) becomes widely available.
- ISPs and BBSs won't adopt a pseudo standard. And if so, don't expect
- that the modem of your ISP fully complies with the specifications. Be
- prepared to problems! And downloading a file 1.5 times (first try
- failed, then another try) with 33.6 kbs is slower than with 28.8 kbs in
- one go.
-
- Think about it!
-
- --
- Markus Hansmair 101321.2700@compuserve.com
-
-