I remember when I bought my first modem for my C64. A lightning fast 1200 baud, she was. Downloaded files at supersonic speed (using X Protocol, of course) - once, I downloaded a HUGE file (I mean, it must have been at *least * 25k) and it only took a few hours! Then I tasted the power that was 9600, and was forever corrupted. I distinctly remember thinking to myself “There’s no way they can get much faster than this.”
Of course, I now own watches that have more memory (and computing power) than my good ol C64.
Slow connection speeds suck, **nifferka ** - hope you get yours straightened out. I know that anytime my connection hiccups I’m overwhelmed by the urge to hit something.
Ahhhhhh…that’s a different beast entirely. Yes, that would be roughly 10 bits per second. Depending on the way the carrier was modulated, it was probably also 10 baud, still ridiculously slow.
I’ve done Amateur packet radio on the 2 m band, using 1200 baud Bell-202 tones. And even that was slow!
No. The phone wiring hasn’t changed much in the ~15 years since 9600 bps was the top speed. The switching equipment has changed somewhat, but that’s not the major limiting factor. The limiting factor was mainly the modulation scheme which determined how many bits per baud could be encoded. There’s a nice little article on the history and development of analog modems leading up to modern ADSL technology here:
