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- TRANSMISSION THROUGHPUT COMPARISONS
- -----------------------------------
-
- I recently observed the transmission speed of binary files over normal
- dialed-up phone lines and PC Pursuit. This was done for the 128-byte
- and the 1-KByte block sizes. The differences are quite startling.
-
- Some Fundamental Assumptions & Precepts:
-
- a. There is a total of 133 bytes transmitted for each block in the
- 128-byte mode: SOH, block number, 1's complement of the block
- number, 128 data bytes, CRC or checksum, and an ACK or NAK in the
- other direction.
-
- b. Similarly, in the 1K mode, there's a total of 1024 + 5 = 1029 bytes
- for each block.
-
- c. Each byte transmitted consists of a basic 8-bit byte plus 1 start
- bit and 1 stop bit, for a total of 10 bits. The start and stop bits
- are stripped off at the receiving terminal.
-
- d. Net useful information throughput is calculated in terms of bits per
- second on an 8-bit per byte basis, not for the 10-bits per byte
- actually transmitted on the line. The theoretical maximum useful
- information throughput rates for 1200 baud transmission are 924 bps
- for 128-byte protocol and 955 bps for 1K protocol. (These numbers are
- calculated by setting overhead time to zero.)
-
- e. Records are defined as 128 bytes, in order to maintain equivalency.
-
- The following tabulation shows the results of my observations, based upon
- averages derived by stopwatch timing methods. A TRS-80 Model 4 was used,
- running at 5.9 MHz clock speed, and equipped with a hard disk. Results will
- probably vary slightly for different clock speeds, and somewhat more for
- floppy disk drive operation.
-
-
- BAUD BLOCK Sec per Records NET INFO Percent
- LINE RATE SIZE Record per Min. THRUPUT OH Time
- ---- ---- ---- ------ ------- -------- -------
-
- Dialup 1200B 128-byte 1.207 49.7 848 bps 8.2%
-
- Dialup 1200B 1K 1.083 55.4 946 bps 1.0%
-
- PCP 1200B 128-byte 3.220 18.6 318 bps 65.6%
-
- PCP 1200B 1K 1.600 37.5 640 bps 33.0%
-
- Dialup 300B 128-byte 4.510 13.3 227 bps 1.7%
-
-
- Note that the use of 1K protocol increases the effective throughput by only
- 11.5% with standard dialup phone lines. With PC Pursuit, however, throughput
- with 128-byte protocol is very low, but can be doubled by using 1K protocol.
-
-
- Larry Lavins
- Philadelphia, PA
- April 6, 1987