Exceeding my modem speed?

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 5 Oct 2001 11:55 am

I just logged onto AOL and saw that AOl reported me as having established a connection speed in excess of 115K, but my modem is only 56K! How is this possible?

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Bill Crook · Post by **Bill Crook** » 5 Oct 2001 12:02 pm

It's a long story..... but believe me, your connection is far less than 56K.

Infact, it's P@#$poor !!!!

My cable-net connection is only as fast as the other end is.

This subject can get really involved.

enouf' said......

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 5 Oct 2001 12:08 pm

Jim, you are seeing the internal modem to cpu speed not the line speed.

I have a older (ISA bus) USR modem and when I first got it, it would display the internal speed. Shortly afterward an update was issued that corrected that and now it shows the line connection speed.

Also, 53KB is the FCC mandated maximum connect speed on a dial-up line. Everyone talks 56Kb service but 53KB connect speed (and maximum downlink speed) and 33.6Kb (V.34) uplink speed is the maximum by FCC reg.

You may have to uninstall and reinstall the modem (via windows) to get it back to showing the line speed.

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 5 Oct 2001 12:10 pm

Thanks, guys.

Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 5 Oct 2001 12:28 pm

Jack, how can the FCC mandate different speeds for up and down? There's a computer on each end. One has to be uploading when the other is downloading!

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Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 5 Oct 2001 2:34 pm

b0b, I'm sure there were legitimate reasons when those specs were set. There are a lot of people that are on "marginal" loops to their homes and if they have over about two "hops" they can never achieve much above 44Kb connection speeds. I have a friend that cannot get connection speeds over 28Kb because of the distance from the telco central office and the condition of the telco lines. Supposedly one of the reasons for the 53Kb connect/uplink speed is potential for crosstalk on the line.

Many broadband services, such as DSL have lower uplink speeds on their basic services. e.g. the DSL service I used to have was 128Kb uplink and 768Kb downlink.

At any given moment on a dialup link the uplink and downlink speeds are constantly changing. The "handshaking" (supervisory link between the two modems) is constantly adjusting the speeds based on the current line conditions.

Like many equipment specifications, the "56K" is really a marketing spec. (The modem is capable of 56Kb but there's no place in the US that it is allowed).

Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 5 Oct 2001 5:52 pm

But if the "56Kb" modems on both sides of the connection are only allowed to do 33.6Kb uplinks, neither will get a 53Kb downlink. You can't receive faster than the other guy is sending!

Still confused....

George Rozak · Post by **George Rozak** » 5 Oct 2001 8:09 pm

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>But if the "56Kb" modems on both sides of the connection are only allowed to do 33.6Kb uplinks, neither will get a 53Kb downlink. You can't receive faster than the other guy is sending!
Still confused.... <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

You're absolutely right b0b. Two 56 Kbps modems connected together over an analog telephone line can only get a maximum transfer rate of 33.6 Kbps in both directions. In order to get the maximum of 53 Kbps in the download direction, the remote site (ISP in most cases) must be directly terminated into a digital facility of some sort (T1, T3, etc.). Most ISPs are nowadays. That's one less digital to analog conversion in the download direction & accounts for the faster speed in that direction.

Hope this makes some sense.

George

Bill Llewellyn · Post by **Bill Llewellyn** » 6 Oct 2001 9:20 am

Bob,

I asked that question of an IP guy at work one time.... He said in effect that ISP modems are designed with the speed allocations in reverse of consumer modems. ISP modems send at a max of 53k and receive at a max of 33k.

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Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 6 Oct 2001 4:17 pm

So, if you run a BBS, are you allowed to use one of them fancy "ISP modems"?

erik · Post by **erik** » 6 Oct 2001 7:39 pm

Don't quibble, just test. Right now mine's 18.5k

go <a href=http://webservices.cnet.com/bandwidth/>here</a>

erik · Post by **erik** » 6 Oct 2001 7:41 pm

[This message was edited by erik on 06 October 2001 at 08:43 PM.]

Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 6 Oct 2001 11:02 pm

Right now I'm at 768k, as always. No modem - just a DSL line and a router.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 7 Oct 2001 3:11 am

My cable connection came in at 1.351Mbs. But the overall speed will vary on this too at any given moment.

Steve Feldman · Post by **Steve Feldman** » 7 Oct 2001 5:58 am

Oh, great.....

I'm at 509.4 kbps and now I have cable envy...

Bill Llewellyn · Post by **Bill Llewellyn** » 7 Oct 2001 8:08 am

Bob,

I dunno where you get an ISP modem (or whatever their official name is). I could ask my ISP operator, I guess. Fancy? I'd say your 768k in both directions is fancy!

Bobby Lee · Post by **Bobby Lee** » 7 Oct 2001 3:48 pm

Actually, my fancy high-speed access is courtesy of you folks. My computer piggybacks off of the Forum's router.

Thanks, guys!