This document may be freely copied and distributed, provided that: this copyright notice is included, the entire body of text is included, and the textual content of this document is unchanged.
For written permission to use portions of this document in other publications, send email to bfree@graphcomp.com.
This is a work in progress.
Modems communicate by converting digital data to/from analog phone signals that are sent over telephones lines. Various standards exist for establishing the speed, compression, error-correction and form of the data being sent over the line. These standards are expressed in terms of BAUD rate, IEEE and BIS specifications.
The highest speed modem standard currently emerging is V.34, which supports 28.8k baud raw data throughput, plus compression and error correction. Such boards for the PC cost less than $300US; 14.4k baud (v32Bis) modems are considerable less. If the modem at the other end is slower than yours, your transmission rates will be limited to that of the slower modem.
In the past, it was necessary to acquire leased lines to transmit high speed data over telephone lines. Today, you can run 28.8k baud over standard telephone lines. With internet service providers becoming increasingly widespread, internet connections are now available in many countries within local calling distance of major cities.
If your service provider does not have a "point of presence" within your local calling area, you might ask them if they know of any low, fixed rate phone services provided by local telephone companies.
ISDN