Deb's silly computer questions No. ? : The 56 k modem.

It's all just a guess. And it keeps guessing as the download progresses.

The actual rate of information passing through varies due to an incredible number of factors... not a constant.

How long does it take to get to Adelaide? Depends on how fast you're driving...

dlowan- According to what I have been reading, 56K is the theoretical speed. A lot of factors determine the actual speed. When I had dialup, I noticed the same thing. The download would start fairly close to 56k and then deteriorate, as it continued.

Damn computers! they LIE!

my computer just told me that in 10 years computers will be obsolete.

Think of it this way lil bunny.. The speedo in your car prolly goes up to a 140 KP/H or more no?? Does your car always travel that fast?

Electrons are notoriously unreliable, Cunning Coney, they get so easily distracted. They start a project with great enthusiasm, then a cute little Proton sashays by, and they kinda get distracted; then some Neutron suddenly brakes for no apparent reason, and traffic starts to back-up . . . you'll just have to get used to these things . . .

You be projecting again, big doggy!

Setanta

fishin's analogy is a really good one but I can't resist tweaking it a bit.

Your modem can go up to 56 but your connection speed is determined by both the modem and the network you are connecting to.

But I guess a car can reach it's stated top speed if it's going downhill. :-)

And as to the download speed decreasing sealpoet has it. The stated speed is just a guess and the guesses change. But download connections tend to degrade anyway.

A lot of people say that the guesstimates should be accurate but that would usually slow things down. That is especially true of the estimated time left in software installations. If it were accurate the installation would take longer.

Well, I am happy enough with my modem.

As a person who just received two (TWO!) speeding tickets, I am able to testify that my car DOES go that fast!

Your point is taken about the consequences of diverting effort to accuracy in estimating, though, tweaker de kere!

and as far as what Setenta said... it aint about pushing electrons, it's about pulling holes.

56k is as finicky as a kite.

A 56k modem "here" requires 56k modem "there", or it downshifts and goes slower.
56k requires nice new clean phone lines the whole way there, or it downshifts.
As it goes through the phone company, if there are digital conversions along the way, it downshifts.
If there are cosmic rays, loose wires, overheating, radio interference, or any number of gloppy electronics, it downshifts.

If you pick up the phone and hear a little static on the line, your 56k will be more like 20k. For a faster connection hang up and keep trying again, until you chance across a nice, clean line!

Also ... 56k is acheived by compressing your data, on the fly. If you are downloading a file that is already compressed (like a .jpg, .mpg, or a .zip file), then 56k will be more like 24k or 9k (I forget which one).
The modem can't compess what's already compressed.

So, nobody ever gets 56k. It's a complete myth, that's acheivable only on the laboratory workbench. Even 35-40k is pretty darn good. And it keeps changing as these conditions change.

Crikey!

For the record, anything i write which directly describes technological processes is written without a clue, and is designed to construct an absurdity, rather than enlighten anyone . . .

so there, SP,

really? You sound remarkably like Alicia!

i used to always zoom along at 33 whatsits
i did a windows 98 2nd edition update the other night - ever since i've been at 45 whatsits
it's quite a pleasant little improvement
(and the other little patches helped things quite nicely)

So. Where?

A prof once said to the class 'What is the slowest computer a person will put up with?'

'The fastest computer that person has used.'

Re: Deb's silly computer questions No. ? : The 56 k modem.



Example:
Zoom Modem: Maximum Data Speeds: V.92: 56,000bps receive / 48,000bps send
Advertised as 56K


8 bit = 1 byte
1024 byte = 1 kilobyte (KB)


Telecommunications speed are still measured in bits, the standard 56 Kbps analog modem speed is actually 56,000 bits per second. Technically this resolves to 7,000 bytes per second, which is approximately 6.8KB per second. However, full transmission rates are very rare.

This is a good example of misleading advertising. The 6.8 KB per second is what you see when you download something. I'm assuming you expected to 56KB in place of the 6.8KB. Your speeds are good. The modem maker just played a technical trick on you and a lot of others. If you downloaded something and you saw 56KB per sec that would be in DSL territory.

Oh, and why it slows down over time. You start to download data right after you click a link. However, it takes a few seconds for the download window to pop-up and for you to select what to do with the file. That whole time data is being pulled in.

A few seconds later the computer asks "how much data do we have? how long have we been downloading?." The how long question is under-reported. Therefore, making it look like data was being pulled through faster then it actually was.

Hope that makes sense.

Thankee, JPowell!

And welcome to A2k.