56k the speed limit or somethig?

[LawyerRon]

Hey Jet,
My understanding is that Federal regulations limit the download speed to 53K, although I'm not sure of the reason for this.

------------------
"To speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves"

[JetBlack69]

Everytime I see an ad for a comptuer with a 56k modem, there is a * by it and it says that it can only go 53k for downloading. I know with cable modems and T1 and other such high speed internet devices you can go faster, but is there a law or something that only allows 53k - 56k speeds on modems and phone lines, or is it technology holding it back?

I just noticed I spelled "something" as "somethig." I wish there was a spelll chequer on tis foorem.
------------------
"I've got thirteen channels of $hit on the T.V. to choose from." - Pink Floyd

[This message has been edited by JetBlack69 (edited 07-30-2000).]

[Dave22]

Also keep in mind that 56K is near impossible to get unless you're in a lab environment anyway (regardless of regulations). Most people are happy to get 48-50K out of a dial up connection.

[StuartW]

The upper limit of a dial up modem is in theory 56k, but most people will be lucky to achieve around 48k, depending on the noise on their line,type of modem etc. There is to be introduced a new V90 standard which will improve performance - but not by much.

[JetBlack69]

Ok, that is what I thought. So it is about half federal regulations and half technology. Thanks. However I would be curious as to why there is a regulation if anyone knows for sure.

------------------
"I've got thirteen channels of $hit on the T.V. to choose from." - Pink Floyd

[glc]

The regulation has something to do with allowable power on a phone line - anything higher causes interference. The faster you go, the more power is required.

[JetBlack69]

Ok, thanks glc.

------------------
"I've got thirteen channels of $hit on the T.V. to choose from." - Pink Floyd

[Spiffman]

When they say 56k. This is in the second standard. Bits. Why, who knows. This is what the lines transfer data in. It also sounds better than "7 KiloByte/sec Modem!" Anyway, there are eight bits in a byte so you are truthfully able to get only about 7KB/SEC (in bytes). In honesty, on the T1's at work and such, I can download things and get about 80KB/SEC if i'm lucky (bytes again). Here at home I only get about 30-60KB/SEC (bytes, yet again). I'm on cable modem. In truth the type of lab test you'd need witha 56k modem to get over 6k/sec would mean two computers connected by a 1" phone cord. You will occasionally find that you are downloading over 7K/SEC if you are in Windows9x. This is because Windows fails to correctly recognize download and connection speeds all the time. For example. I used to have dial-up (thank heavens I don't anymore) and I used to be connected at "127,050KBits". This was according to Windows. This was dailing up into an ISP with only 33.6 modems though. This is the most common recognition problem but i've found many other (and so have many other PEOPLE). Either way, with 56k its safe to say the best download speed you will HONESTLY get is 48.8. There are different modems that work better with handling packet collision and stuff for gamers and stuff, but honest data rate transfer, don't expect too much (until you get cable! YAY!).

------------------
Spiƒƒ
‰

[vitalstatistix]

V90 . is in use for few years now, the recently announced one is V.92 and that allows upto 48K upload speed!

quote:

---

Originally posted by StuartW:
The upper limit of a dial up modem is in theory 56k, but most people will be lucky to achieve around 48k, depending on the noise on their line,type of modem etc. There is to be introduced a new V90 standard which will improve performance - but not by much.

---

[vitalstatistix]

also, 56K limit is not only due to power regualtions, but also the frequency spectrum they use, even DSL runs on unbundled copper tel lines(local loops), same power rqmt BUT diff frequencies hence speeds upto 52MbPS download!!! can your cable match that speed and performance with this being a P-2-p link? its called vDSL and to top up, u can use ur telphone and surf at the same time! on the same line .. (one pair).. if u want symmetric go HDSL (2.3 MbPS both ways 2 pair)

cheeers


gfx

[This message has been edited by vitalstatistix (edited 07-31-2000).]

[JetBlack69]

Wow, I didn't know that there was this much information avalible on this board. Well, actually I did know , but I'm impressed.

Thanks for all of the info everybody.

------------------
"I've got thirteen channels of $hit on the T.V. to choose from." - Pink Floyd

[Harry]

Actually, there is a way to make a file appear like it is downloading at about 120K on a 56K modem. You probably all already know about it but I thought it was really cool because it actually indicates that you are downloading that quickly.
Maybe I will set up the file later on if anyone wants to see this.