=====================¢¢ MODEMS AND BAUD RATES¢ by John Kasupski, WNYAUG¢ Reprinted by OL' HACKERS with¢ thanks!¢¢¢ Anytime a discussion of modem ¢ usage takes place, one of the first ¢ terms that immediately crops up is ¢ the term BAUD. The term describes¢ the rate of speed that a modem works¢ with. Well, not really.¢¢ Actually, BAUD is a unit of¢ measurement for data transmission,¢ equal to one bit per second (BPS).¢ The earliest modems used a rate of¢ 110 BPS. As modems became more¢ complex, higher**** speeds came¢ into use. At one time 300 BPS was the¢ standard. However, last week, I¢ noticed for the first time, a message¢ from a SysOp indicating that his¢ board would no longer issue permanent¢ passwords to new users logging on at¢ 300 BPS. The typical new modem owner¢ chooses a 1200 BPS modem, which is¢ four times faster than 300 BPS. It's¢ also eleven times faster than the old¢ 110 BPS standard.¢ One point: I keep using BPS¢ instead of BAUD here because it's¢ technically correct, whereas BAUD¢ technically isn't. You needn't worry¢ about this since it has become¢ acceptable to use BAUD and BPS (bits¢ per second) interchangably. Only very¢ technical-minded people like me¢ insist on making the distinction¢ between the two. Most people know¢ what your talking about no matter¢ which term you use. ¢¢ Okay, the standard rates for¢ modem operation progress¢ algebraically: 110, 300, 1200, 2400,¢ 4800, 9600, and 19,200 BPS. The¢ faster your modem transmits data, the¢ faster you can make all your BBS¢ calls. This can save you lots of¢ money if you're calling long ¢ distance. The money you save on your¢ phone bill will eventually pay for¢ the higher-speed modem, so it pays to¢ buy the best you can afford. Let's¢ assume a cost of fifty cents per¢ minute for a long distance phone call¢ to a BBS. Let's also assume we're¢ going to download a file that is 128K¢ in length. At 300 BPS, it would take¢ you almost an hour (actually 56¢ minutes, at a cost of $28.45) to¢ download the file. But at 1200 BPS,¢ you can download the same file in¢ just 14 minutes. This would cost you¢ $7.11, saving you $21.34 already. If¢ you bought the Atari SX-212 modem¢ from Damark for $19.95, the modem has ¢ already paid for itself!¢¢ At 2400 BPS, the file would¢ take a little over seven minutes to¢ download. The call would cost $3.56,¢ saving you $24.89 over the 300 BPS¢ charges. At 9600 BOS, it would take¢ just 1:47 to download the file - 89¢ cents on the phone bill, you've saved¢ $27.56 over the cost of a 300 BPS¢ transfer. And, just for fun, at¢ 19,200 BPS you could download the¢ file in a snappy 53 seconds, which¢ would cost you the paltry sum of only¢ 49 cents - whopping $28.00 savings¢ compared to the 300 BPS transfer, in¢ just ONE telephone call! So if you¢ have a 300 Baud modem, throw it in¢ the trash and get a new, faster¢ modem. The 1200 and 2400 BPS modems¢ are really not THAT expensive these¢ days - 1200 especially - and, as I¢ said earlier, they pay for themselves¢ very quickly if you call out-of-town¢ boards at long distance rates. ¢¢ Now, to explain the term "bits¢ per second" we need to understand¢ what Bibary is. It's a numbering¢ system, similar to any other.¢ Calculations are done much the same¢ way as they are done in the decimal¢ numbering system, except that decimal¢ uses TEN digits (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,¢ 6, 7, 8, 9) whereas binary uses only¢ two (0 and 1).¢¢ This makes Binary the perfect¢ numbering system for use in the¢ computer industry, since computers¢ are basically a fancy arrangement of¢ electronic circuits, and a circuit¢ can be in one of two states - on (1)¢ or off 0). This is why Binary has¢ become the universal numbering¢ system for the computer industry. ¢¢ Okay, earlier I stated that BPS¢ stands for Bits Per Second. The term ¢ BITS comes from BInary digiTS. One¢ bit is either 0 or 1. We call our¢ Atari ES computers 8-bit machines¢ because each memory address (byte) in¢ our machines is eight bits long. At¢ any rate, 300 BPS means that we send¢ one string of 300 zeroes and ones¢ each second. At 1200 BPS we send 1200¢ zeroes/ones a second, and so on. 2400¢ BPS will send 2400 bits - or 300¢ bytes - per second.¢¢ I find it interesting to note¢ that, since the screen on the Atari¢ holds a maximum of 960 characters (24¢ lines times 40 columns), we can send¢ TEN screens full of text PER SECOND¢ at 9600 BPS - much faster than any¢ of us can possibly read. This is¢ why programs like BobTerm that¢ support transfer rates as high as¢ 19,200 BPS don't bother to include¢ a text window where you can see¢ what's going into the buffer - as was¢ the case with 850 Express! When the¢ data is being transferred that fast,¢ you can't read it anyway!¢¢ (EDITORS note: A word to the wise is¢ money in your pocket. Wise modeming ¢ great fun-and can still be very cheap¢ if you heed JOHN's advice.)¢** **** *=*=* End *=*=***** ** ¢¢
