Technology To Cover Mountain Peaks And Park Benches
The Age
Monday October 11, 1993
Modems are becoming cheaper, faster and now have a variety of uses.
ASH NALLAWALLA looks what the buyer can expect.
AS MODEMS get cheaper and faster, more people buy them and find yet more ways to use them. Everybody wins. The advent of portable computers and miniature modems has made it feasible for travellers to dial into their office machines from hotel rooms and airport lounges.
Cellular telephone technology has extended this concept to cover mountain peaks and park benches.
I have fond memories of my Bit Blitzer 12E modem. It covered 300 and 1200 bps only, while many BBS's in those days were offering 2400 bps.
But then, I always seem to buy expensive toys just before the next model is announced. Now, I use a Hayes Optima 9600 bps modem but I hesitate to jump to the 14,400 bps level because I'll probably end up with the last unit made. By then you folks will be savoring some cheaper but faster model for sure.
Standards For the past few years, modem buyers who yearned for speed had to settle for brands that used proprietary modulation techniques. A 19,200 bps modem could only talk at 2400 bps to one that supported 14,400 bps. Once the international standards organisation CCITT released recommendations for 9600 bps (V.32) and 14,400 bps (V.32bis), modem makers responded quickly.
Unfortunately, a few ``CCITT compliant" modems were not fully compliant, and one used to find that a V.32 modem could not connect with another that claimed to meet that recommendation. Yes, the CCITT (now known as ITU-T) issues recommendations, not standards, although nations are free to treat them as such. The modem enthusiast would be constantly checking BBS messages to see if the firmware (the software in a chip) had been updated. In the main, those days are past us.
So what can the trailblazing modem buyer expect to see shortly? The final frontier is 28,800 bps, which is regarded as the upper limit of dial-up telephone lines. Known by the unimaginative name of V.Fast, it has been a long time coming, so modem manufacturers have been toying with an interim solution known as V.32terbo. There is no agreement on this 19,200 bps implementation, so modems from two makers might not be able to communicate with each other at this speed. A faster, but interim step known as V.Fast Class (VFC) offers 28,800 bps but will be rendered obsolete by V.Fast in mid-1994.
What about ISDN? In the mid-to-late 1980s, we heard a lot about the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), which was touted as the technology that would deliver an extremely high-speed voice and data highway to every house and office. Modems would become obsolete, warned the pundits.
By 1991, industry leaders such as Dennis Hayes were noticing that the ISDN revolution had not taken place, but was slowly catching on in the United States. He compared the different time scales of the telecommunications and computer industries: for the latter, progress was not fast enough.
Businesses were warming to ISDN. They had local area networks; they had analog modems; the telephone company ISDN network was linked with the public packet switched network. It seemed logical for Hayes Corporation to design the Ultra brand of modems with a built-in packet assembler/disassembler (PAD). This avoided the need to go through the analog telephone lines.
Local offerings Where does this leave you and what choices do you have? We examine some products that represent the leading edge of modem technology.
Banksia Information Technology (BIT) caught my eye around 1988, because its manuals were detailed and written in Australian English.
The company is now known as Banksia Technology and no longer has any foreign owners. I have not used a BIT Blitzer since 1989 but I have been reading the modem-related BBS messages and I take note of what BBS sysops say. All brands of modem get copious amounts of abuse, often from ignorant users, but Banksia gets the fewest complaints and the most compliments. Its $1066 flagship is the MX-6 fax/data modem.
Banksia can be reached via CompuServe by typing GO PACVENDOR, then Section 3 or by telephone at (02) 4186033. Its BBS is at (02) 418 7693.
Dataplex makes solid, reliable modems. They tend to be more expensive than the others but they are mostly Australian made. I have used the old DPX224, which is a popular workhorse in offices. We have some at work that have operated nonstop for several years. Most Dataplex modems that I have seen feature an internal power supply, so you do not have to worry about finding room for external plug packs or tripping over long cords. Today's workhorse is the DPX-225 data/fax modem, which also comes in a rack-mount version, the DPX-325. It retails for $1144.
Dataplex has just released the Sportster 14,400 data/fax modem, which is sourced from US Robotics (a revered name among BBS sysops). It comes with software and is priced at $695 from Data Direct (03) 210 3335; BBS (03) 210 3383.
Canberra-based Maestro Australia has been around for ten years. Its current range tops out with the 144FM fax/data modem, which retails at a very attractive price of $599. Its future offerings will include the Companion range of pocket modems, covering the range from 2400 bps to 19,200 bps. External modems will also cover this range and eventually 28,800 bps. Contact Maestro at (06) 242 9755; BBS (06) 299 2189.
NetComm is another well-known brand and I used several models ending with an 9600 bps E5 around 1991. Its successor today is the E7F, a 14,400 bps fax/ data unit that retails for $1099. Contact (02) 888 5533.
Hayes Corporation does not have an Australian office as yet, but its Austel-approved modems have been on the market since 1991. Its modems are by definition Hayes compatible, which refers to the command language defined by Hayes and used by most other manufacturers. Hayes will be among the first to offer V.Fast class modems next year. Big US BBS operators will participate in the trials, and BBS software packages such as TBBS, PCBoard, and Wildcat! will support this speed.
Are the PCs ready? Today's PCs with their 16450 UART chips are, by and large, not capable of using VFC and V.Fast. Using a 16550 chip is a step in the right direction but can suffer from buffer overrun, according to Mr Hayes.
The new $206, 16-bit Hayes ESP Communications Accelerator will resolve this, and will be ready for speeds of 115,200 bps or higher. Contact MPA International for all Hayes products at (03) 724 4444.
© 1993 The Age
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