RANCK@VTVM1.BITNET ("Wm. L. Ranck") (04/23/87)
I think Geoff is re-defining Bits Per Second to mean *data* bits per second. That's throughput. Start/stop bits are still part of the raw bit rate when discussing modem speeds. BTW: I seem to recall that 1200bps modems actually transmit at 600 BAUD. The carrier changes state 600 times per second but each state change represents a 'dibit' (pronounced die-bit) thus the bit-per-second rate is 2*BAUD.
berger@clio.UUCP (05/04/87)
That's correct: Bits and baud have never truly been interchangable terms. To make matters worse, all bits don't have the same length in a serial channel. Mike Berger Center for Advanced Study University of Illinois berger@clio.las.uiuc.edu {ihnp4 | convex | pur-ee}!uiucuxc!clio!berger