dillon@CORY.BERKELEY.EDU (Matt Dillon) (09/17/86)
Most phone lines have a band-width of about 10Khz, so 9600 bps will probably be the next standard after 2400. There are modems out that are supposed to do better than 9600 (not including compaction), but when you get that fast, it all depends on the phone line. In terms of getting a faster modem, I personally have a 2400 bps modem. There are quite a few dialups (well, at least 30 going into UCB) that run at 2400. A standard may come in the near future for 9600, but I don't think the 9600 bps modems will become 'common' for another couple of years. The difference between 1200 and 2400 bps is quite astounding when you are trying to do serious work over a modem. Most 2400 bps modems also support 1200 and 300, of course. 300 bps modems use 300 baud FSK. 1200 bps modems use 600 baud & 2 phases of the waveform 2400 bps modems use 600 baud & 4 phases of the waveform Once you get beyond 4 phases you have to get fancy... even at 2400 bps you are almost required to use an intelligent microprocessor (most modems use microprocessors anyway) to continuously adjust the line filters. If you ever looked at 2400 bps on an oscilliscope, you'd know what I mean. -Matt