No Hype 56K Modem Info

More Resources About 56k Modems, 1977 to 1999

Daniel Knight - 1999.12.31

Links originally on the No Hype 56k Modem Home Page. Links verified March 2018.

1999

  • Mac DSL Center. Faster internet connections may be available in your area.
  • xDSL Q&A, Vicomsoft. Various forms of DSL will compete head-to-head with cable modems in many markets.
  • New Mexico breaks DSL deadlock, Cnet, 12/16. “…a glaring example of how rural areas have been excluded from the boom in broadband services.”
  • AT&T to open door to net rivals, Washington Post, 12/5. AT&T working with MindSpring to give cable modem customers an ISP alternative.
  • Cable charges stir up Big Pond users, Fairfax IT, 12/1. Australia’s only provider of cable internet service wants to charge users by the megabyte.
  • Faster browsing on older Macs, Online Tech Journal
  • Net victory could cut DSL prices, Cnet, 11/8. “…Baby Bell companies must allow competitors to share the main telephone line into homes to offer high-speed digital subscriber line service.”
  • 56k modems to improve, PC World, 11/18. “V.90 Plus modems could speed uploads and connect more quickly.”
  • Online with a PowerBook Duo, Julie Fugett, Mac Daniel, 11/17. “To do everything you want to accomplish, you’re going to need a DuoDock.”
  • Free web access, even for older Macs, Rob Myers, Mac Musings, 11/17. Free web access with a standard PPP connection and no extra ad banners in your brower.
  • The hell that is DSL, Interactive Week, 11/8 [56k.com]. Getting DSL installed can be a nightmare.
  • A new age of consumer cable modems, ZDTV [56k.com]. “One big surprise . . . was just how simple the installation process is for the end user.”
  • VDSL offers ten times ADSL speed, TechWeb, 11/2 [56k.com]. “VDSL technology has an aggregate capacity of up to 60 Mbist/second over short distances….”
  • IPNetRouter 1.4.4 released, 11/4. It’s how I connect my network to the internet.
  • Six months with a cable modem, 56k.com. “The lesson in this is that a modem is only as good as the network behind it….”
  • 3Com scores with modem geared toward serious gamers, Excite News, 10/26. PCI modem designed for faster pings, more stable connections, and reduced lag times. (No info on Mac support.)
  • The social cost of connectivity, Wired, 10/20. Does “being connected” mean being disconnected from those around us?
  • At last, DSL gets real, ZDNet, 10/18. “Somewhere in the spectrum of DSL choices is a cost-effective offer that will work for you, whether you need to feed Net access to a family, a small office, or a home office.”
  • FCC to re-examine “modem tax”, MSNBC. “The ‘modem tax’ is now officially classified as an urban myth; however, the idea is not completely dead inside the FCC; it’s just on long-term hold.”
  • DSL: One man’s life in the fast lane, Gary Krakow, MSNBC. “If you know what T-1 lines cost per month, or how ISDN “per minute/per channel” charges add up, DSL starts to look like a bargain (even in the Big Apple).”
  • Why DSL will win the fast-access fight, Jesse Berst, ZDNet, 10/6. In a word, competition.
  • How to avoid a $400 “free” ISP phone bill, Cnet, 9/23. Free internet access may be via costly “local toll” phone number.
  • Cable modems or DSL: Which is better?, Simson Garfinkel, Salon, 9/23. “…both technologies have merits and should be able to stand on their own.”
  • Earthlink, MindSpring to merge, ZDNet, 9/23. “The combined company would form the second largest Internet service provider in the U.S. with more than three million members….”
  • Vicom Internet Gateway vs. IPNetRouter, brindley.net. Two popular programs for sharing internet access among networked Macs.
  • You have fast access in your home right now, Jesse Berst, ZDNet, 8/25. Well, not quite yet, but your power lines could double as high speed data lines.
  • 56k PCI modem (no longer online), Excite/Business Wire, 8/23. Not a Winmodem, this may be the first full-fledged modem on a PCI card. (Alas, no Mac support.)
  • 56k USB modems, MacNN Review, 8/20. “…56K USB modems simply do not perform as well as they should.”
  • G.Lite: Mass Market ADSL, Online Tech Journal, 8/17. “…a cost effective DSL technology with good enough performance for most users most of the time.”
  • Dale Sorensen’s Mac DSL Page.
  • New flavor of DSL brings faster, cheaper net access, CNN, 8/13. G.Lite will reach 1.5 Mbps downstream and 384 kbps upstream – over 25x faster downloads and 11x faster uploads than 56k modems!
  • Cable or DSL?, Dan Knight, 56k Modem Page, 8/11. Which is the better choice, a cable modem or DSL?
  • Apple, SingTel team up to bring ADSL to iMacs, iMac NewsPage, 7/20. This is the first time SingTel has offered broadband internet access for anything besides Windows.
  • How fast is fast?, Online Tech Journal, 7/19. Trying to put throughput in perspective.
  • Apple lays plans for bundled DSL (no longer online), Mac OS Rumors, 7/19. “Information from reliable sources indicates that Apple is currently refining its plans for bundling xDSL ‘modems’ as an option on all professional Macs, and perhaps also on the iMac and Consumer Portable as well.”
  • Why users are satisfied (or not) with their ISPs, ZDNet, 7/19. “Fast access is one of the keys to ISP customer satisfaction.”
  • Upgrade Guy: Sharing modems (no longer online), MacCentral, 7/16.
  • A better way to share, PowerBook Source (dead site), 7/12. Sharing an internet connection with multiple Macs.
  • Judge to AT&T – free access for all!, ZDNet, 6/4. No, not free access for end users, but AT&T-owned cable systems must allow user choice of ISP.
  • Life beyond the modem: PacBell FasTrak DSL, MacGeeks, 6/3. “…I shudder at the thought of going back to life with a modem.”
  • Modems’ last stand, Macworld. “…today’s fastest modems can’t compete with digital technologies such as ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network), DSL (Digital Subscriber Line), and cable modems….”
  • DSL, Cable, T-1 performance compared (no longer online). Real world tests show T-1 fastest, cable and DSL comparable. Note that cable and DSL results can very by locale. (Also see Keynote Press Release)
  • DSL speeds can smoke cable (no longer online), Cnet, 5/17. “…even low-grade DSL is as much as 12 percent faster than cable – at least during consumers’ prime-time evening hours….”
  • What life with a cable modem is really like, CNN interactive: “…after six months of use, I can say cable was worth the wait. At least, that’s what I tell myself on the good days. “
  • Beyond 56k modems: Cable and DSL, MacFixIt: “Wishing, hoping or planning to get a cable modem soon? There are some downsides as well as upsides to these devices.”
  • Apple bug cause of Road Runner woes, MacTimes, 4/19: “…the problems are in fact related to both the Macintosh OS and [Road Runner] equipment upgrades.”
  • Myth of the 56k modem, Wired News
  • Cable modem sales surge, Wired News
  • Is a 56k Modem a Good Match for a IIci?, Mac Daniel
  • The iMac & a cable modem – pure speed baby!, the iMac.com

1998

1997

  • Just my luck, Mark Hall’s column, “Standards Don’t Matter for High Speed Modems,” in ZD Internet Magazine (12/97) isn’t available online. He points out that you buy what works with your ISP, so standards are less important than we think.
  • Just not worth it? That’s what Cnet’s “10 Technologies That Don’t Stand a Chance” says about 56k modems. Read the article and let them know what you think.
  • No 56k standard? PCWeek Online reports on a lawsuit filed by Brent Townshend against Rockwell for violating his intellectual property rights by using his 56k technology. With this unsettled, it could throw a wrench in hopes of a single 56k modem standard for some time. (Lucent, which also makes K56flex chips, is not affected.)
  • Internet access via your power line? Nortel and Norweb promise 1 MB/sec. throughput without using phone lines. Read more.
  • Filter unwanted email. The Spam Filtering Guide can get you started.
  • PC Magazine has an overview of 56k technology and reviews a dozen modems.
  • Looking for an ISP that supports 56k? Visit isps.com.
  • PCToday reviews eight K56flex modems.
  • PCWorld has an article that notes a 57.6 kbps serial port limitation for AOL 3 on Windows 95 – this limitation reduces average throughput by 20%.
  • Cnet.com has an overview of 56k technology and 23 modems. Best analog speed was 31.3 Kbps; top digital speed was 43.6 Kbps. Testing showed no appreciable difference between X2 and K56flex but some significant differences between brands.
  • PC Computing reviews the Diamond SupraExpress 56e (K56flex), Hayes Accura 56K (K56flex), Motorola ModemSurfr 56K (K56flex), IBM 56K (X2), and Cardinal Connecta 56k (X2).
  • Computer Shopper has a very favorable review of the Diamond SupraExpress 56e. (no longer online)
  • PC Today Online reviews X2 modems from US Robotics, Global Village, Practical Peripherals, Cardinal, Logicode, ActionTec, and IBM.
  • Communications Week asks, “Should you take the leap?” (no longer online)
  • ISDN slows while 56K, DSL gain, according to MacWeek. (no longer online)
  • HomePC, “56K Modems: Will they end the world wide wait?” reports K56flex significantly slower than X2 (this may be due to modems with defective chips). More info on defective chips at Hiwaay.net.
  • McHenryCom has compared four brands of K56flex modems and found no significant speed difference between them.
  • TechWeb has a troubling article from EETIMES online asking whether K56flex is really a standard or just a marketing ploy.
  • TechWeb has a lot of information about 56k modems.
  • PC Week proclaims, “Labels on 56Kbps modem packages should actually read ’40-something’.”
  • Computer Shopper test X2 and reports, “Some Web sites were accessed in the mid-30Kbps range where they had formerly transferred at mid-20Kbps levels, but we still had more than our share of sub-10Kbps sites. The problem, of course, is that no matter what the connect speed with AOL might be, you still must deal with slow responses from busy Web sites.” (no longer online)
  • “Download Derby” at ComputerLife Online compares throughput with various technologies with a 10 MB file.
  • Family PC finds X2 “44% faster than 28.8.”
  • AOL announces support for X2 standard. Expects 65% of network will use 3Com/US Robotics Total Control remote access equipment, which can be software configured for X2. AOL expects to have 120 cities accessible with X2 by August 31, 200 cities by the end of September. All this at no surcharge, hopefully setting a trend for the rest of the industry.
  • First head-to-head review of X2 and K56flex modems in PC Week of June 2, 1997.
  • How 56Kbps Modems Stack Up.
    • Reports 56k modems show “as much as 76 percent increase in throughput” v. conventional v.34 modems in lab tests (not the real world).
    • Compares Supra, Hayes, Motorola, and US Robotics 56k models.
    • Notes 56k modems may connect at one speed, then fall back to a slower speed for data transmission.
    • Projects “real-world connections for these modems will probably be in the 42K-bps-to-46K-bps range.”
    • Neither protocol seems better than the other.
  • Why 56Kbps Modems Aren’t Always That Speedy. Discusses limitations of phone lines, particularly residential ones, that may limit throughput to 33.6.
  • The High Cost of Handling High-Speed Traffic. Discusses limitations of 56k for remote access.
  • Infoworld reports E-Tech plans modems supporting both X2 and K56flex standards. (no longer online)
  • Ed Foster’s column on US Robotics X2 modems.
  • First Look at X2 and lab results from Windows Sources.
  • Seven Reasons Not to Buy a 56k modem from The Site.
  • 56k Analog Modem FAQ from 24 Hour Support.
  • What about 56k Modems? on Dundee.net.
  • 56k Modem Technology – The Basics from Logicworld Pty Ltd.
  • 56k Modem Info from ModemShop.
  • First 56k Modems: Fast, Inexpensive, but Not for Everyone from PC World.
  • Look Before You Leap from MultiTech Systems.
  • How 56k modems work from PC Week.