Past News    Home    Search    Email    Glossary 

News Archive for May 25 to 31, 1997

May 31

 

Special Report: What Comes After 56K?

 

What's the next stop beyond 56K? ADSL, ISDN, and cable modems have been suggested as logical successors to the analog modem. In today's news, we find ADSL and cable modems taking a beating, while 56K goes to the next level.

 

PCWEEK carries bad news for some of 56K's competitors. In "Cable services stalling on modem access", they report that Hewlett-Packard and IBM have dropped their plans for cable modems and chips, and Intel may be out of the picture, as well. One major stumbling block is that 75% of cable services are one way: data moves from the cable company to the subscriber. For uploading, subscribers to one-way cable systems must still use an analog modem.

 

Having to use an analog modem and a cable modem complicates the setup process, and limits upload speeds to a maximum of 33.6. It's also incredibly expensive for cable companies, who have to pay all the expenses of analog dial-in ports, plus the cable modem ports. As a result, cable companies will have to charge nearly twice as much as traditional ISPs, and still aren't guaranteed a profit.

 

In "Study: DSL is a farfetched 'dream'", PCWEEK reports on a study from Forrester Research that suggests that ADSL and other xDSL technologies "are a long way off." For remote connectivity, the author of the study says that corporate commuters will "keep chugging with inverse multiplexers."

 

Inverse Multiplexing Modems: the next step

 

You'll be hearing a lot more about inverse multiplexers in the next year. A regular multiplexer takes one signal and splits it into multiple signals. An inverse multiplexer (IM) takes multiple signals and bonds them into one signal. Inverse multiplexing modems (IMMs) can bond multiple analog phone lines to double, triple, or quadruple the speed of regular 56K modems. The process is sometimes referred to as bonding or channel aggregation.

 

IM isn't new. The Multilink PPP option in ISDN devices that bonds two 64K channels into 128K is based on RCF 1717, authored in 1994.

 

One inverse multiplexer in the news this week is Transend's 67.2K modem. How is that possible, you ask? Isn't there just 64K of bandwidth in a voice circuit? Right you are! As noted in the press release and the InfoWorld story, the Transend modem is multiplexing two phone lines with two 33.6 connections.

 

If you're going to bond analog phone lines, why not use 56K modems instead of 33.6 modems? Answer: it's already been done. The U.S. Robotics Dual Analog LAN Linker bonds two analog lines to achieve up to 112K, while the Ramp Networks WebRamp M3 uses three lines to reach speeds of up to 168K. MidCore's software uses four lines for speeds in excess of 200K. PCWEEK and TechWeb have stories.

 

The big question about inverse multiplexing modems is: who ya gonna call that supports this oddball configuration? For corporations, this isn't a problem. They can equip each office and each telecommuter with multiplexing equipment. This is an especially attractive option in areas of the country where ISDN and frame relay are unavailable or exorbitantly expensive.

 

Consumers need support from their local ISPs. Today's ISPs don't support IM except by special arrangement. That could change. Most ISPs today use Ascend MAX terminal servers. That includes heavy hitters like AOL, MSN, and Mindspring. MAX units are perfectly capable of inverse multiplexing. Ascend has a FAQ on the subject. Almost no one is taking advantage of the built-in capability of their Ascend units, but it's in there, ready to awake when the ISP market changes.

 

Wrap-up

 

ADSL and cable modems put consumers at the mercy of price and availability. Because inverse multiplexing modems work with regular analog phone lines, consumers are free to add an extra phone line when they need it. IMMs have the potential to be more popular than ADSL or cable modems for mass market Internet access, and are a shoe-in for telecommuters and remote office access.

 

May 29

Breaking news

Last week, 56K.COM reported that U.S. Robotics representatives were telling customers that USR would offer free upgrades to the final ITU standard, but that USR wouldn't confirm or deny the reports.

 

On Wednesday, U.S. Robotics officially announced that it will provide free upgrades to the final ITU standard. USR will also offer "purchasers of new x2 desktop and PC Card modems one month of free Internet service, up to $25, from nearly 350 Internet service providers that offer x2 service, plus an unconditional 30-day "satisfaction guaranteed" return policy."

 

An ITU press release tracks the progress towards an international 56K modem standard. According to the press release, final technical work is expected to be complete by September, 1997, with a final recommendation by January, 1998.

 

The Microsoft Network announced field trials of K56flex modems in Seattle. Six additional cities will be added this summer, and all cities served by MSN could be 56K-capable by the end of the year, according to the press release. MSN will not charge extra for 56K access. There's a web page for members interested in the beta test, but it apparently requires an MSN username and password.

 

May 31 is the deadline for Motorola modem owners to register in the TidalWave upgrade program.

 

Global Village has officially announced the 56K PCMCIA cards mentioned here last week. The Mac and Windows cards are cellular-capable, and are also available as a combination modem/Ethernet card.

 

Terry Mitchell tipped me off to MaxTech's 56K upgrades for their 33.6 NetPacer modems. Units purchased between 1/1/97 and 12/31/97 are eligible for the upgrade, which costs $89 plus $9.95 shipping and handling. MaxTech has product specs and Windows 95 drivers for their new XPVS-56I NetPacer Pro internal modem. I've updated the upgrade and drivers page.

 

As part of the promotional rollout, MaxTech is giving away a 56K modem. Entries must be submitted no later than June 1, 1997.

 

The Internet Hardware Outlet is also giving away a 56K modem. Or maybe it's a 33.6 modem. The web page is ambiguous, and the webmaster hasn't responded to an email query sent last week. Either way, hey! free modem.

 

 May 27

 

Special Report: Beware Winmodems

 

IBM has released their 56K Internet Starter Kit. The kit includes a 60-day trial on the IBM Internet Connection, IBM Internet Connection Phone, IBM Home Page Creator, Netscape Navigator 3.0, and an x2 Winmodem.

 

This release brings up something I haven't discussed yet: Winmodems. Short for Windows-only modems, these modems use fewer and cheaper chips compared to traditional modems. The work normally done by the missing chips is transferred to software running on the host computer's main processor (the Pentium, PowerPC, etc.). For that reason, Winmodems and their ilk are sometimes known as host signal processor (HSP) modems.

 

Winmodems are the most popular HSP modems, but there are others. Rockwell's 14.4 RPI modems also use HSP. So do Apple's Geoport Telecom Adapters for Power Macintoshes. The Geoports for Quadra AVs are slightly different, in that they use the host computer's digital signal processor (DSP), rather than the host computer's CPU.

 

 The cons

 

There are a number of flaws in the HSP concept. In all cases, your host computer has to do more work to make up for the modem's lack of hardware. Users of Winmodems, RPI modems and Power Mac Geoports will notice a slowdown on their main computer with all but the fastest CPUs. One RPI modem user reported slow transfer rates and dropped connections until he upgraded his PC from eight to sixteen megabytes of RAM (which improves performance in Windows).

 

These slowdowns are already significant with 28.8 and 33.6 modems - some users report as much as a 30% slowdown. 56K Winmodems could cause significant performance problems for all but the latest computers. IBM's minimum requirements for the 56K Internet Kit modem is 486, but some features require 90 Mhz Pentium, and DSVD features require a 133 MHz Pentium.

 

The other big disadvantage of HSP modems is that the software needed to make them work is operating-system dependent. Apple's GeoPort Telecom Adapters require the Mac operating system, so they won't work with MKlinux or Be OS. Winmodems are Windows-only, so they can't be used with Linux, Solaris, OpenStep, or OS/2 unless someone writes special drivers. Ironically, IBM's new modem can't run on IBM's own OS/2 operating system. In contrast, any external Hayes-compatible modem with a full chip set can be used with any operating system on any computer with a serial port.

 

Winmodem configuration can be messy, because Winmodems use a range of memory addresses instead of a fixed memory address.

 

The upgradeability of HSP modems is mixed. RPI modems aren't upgradeable to anything beyond a 14.4. After years of delays, Apple finally released a free 33.6 software upgrade for the 14.4 Power Mac GeoPorts, but not the Quadra AV GeoPorts. No plans for a 56K upgrade have been announced. U.S. Robotics plans a free 56K upgrade for the model #1125, but the Vi models aren't upgradeable.

 

 The pros

 

If Winmodems have these problems, why do they continue to sell? In part, the answer is cost. By omitting a few chips, manufacturers can sell the modems for ten or twenty dollars cheaper. But Winmodems are also popular for features like DSVD (digital simultaneous voice and data) and answering machine features, which are easier to implement with an HSP modem.

 

 The pitch

 

In general, I recommend avoiding HSP modems. Get a good old-fashioned modem with all of its chips intact. Nothing else offers the same level of reliability, compatibility, and performance.

 

Lee Schneider wrote in with some notes on his Multiwave modem, many of which apply to Winmodems in general:

 

1.These modems require a faster processor to connect at high speeds. A P100 is marginal for a 28.8 to 33.6 connection. A P133 is better and anything faster works fine. A P75 will generally not connect at 28.8. (Forget a 486)

2.They work fine with AMD K5 CPUs and probably other non Intel CPU's as well.

3.A 56K-type connection would probably require a 166MMX or better CPU.

4.They have a DSP model which probably puts a smaller load on the CPU, but may be less upgradable due to limitations in the DSP.

5.I have personally not had any problems with my 33.6PnP, but I am aware of situations where video card drivers cause conflicts in the form of frequent Internet disconnects. In one case I contacted Multitech about a conflict with the Mystique Win95 driver. It took a while, but they eventually e-mailed me a new driver that now works fine (for a friend). I have also experienced problems with CL5436/46 drivers. In that case a different version solved the problem.

6.These modems are full featured at very good prices.

7.They use a virtual comm port. The best way (in my view) to install them is to DISABLE comm 2 in the BIOS, let Win95 do its thing during installation and then go into the Device Mgr. in Win95 and change to comm 2(IRQ3/2F8).

 

Multiwave's web page states that they will demonstrate 56K DSP and HSP modems at the June, 1997 COMPUTEX in Taiwan.

 

 

Previous week