56K Basics

• Introduction

• How it works

• 3 things you need to use 56K

• Standards wars

• "I can't even get 28.8K now"

• "Should I buy 56K now?"

"Should I buy 56K now?"

56K technology is still young. There are a number of modems available now, but there are very few places to call. America Online, with eight million subscribers, has 56K test modem pools in only a handful of cities. There's no reason to upgrade your modem until your Internet service provider (ISP) supports the higher speed.

If you can wait, 56K modems will continue to get better. When 28.8K modems appeared, some of them had trouble with slow connections and dropped carrier. A steady stream of firmware upgrades have made 28.8K modems very reliable. It's likely that 56K modems will also need to go through a similar teething process.

If you're still puttering along at 9.6K or 14.4K and can't stand to wait any longer, it's worth buying a 56K modem instead of a 33.6. 56K modems are backwards compatible with modems as slow as 300 bps (0.3K), so you'll be able to connect at speeds up to 33.6K now. When your ISP upgrades to 56K modems, you'll be ready. Contact your ISP and find out whether they plan to use K56flex or x2 equipment, and buy a compatible modem.