Whats the next BIG thing for modems??

[-[RaoV]-Dex]

Whats going to be the next big improvement for modem's??
All other parts of the computer are allways being improved on, every month or so theres a new graphics card or cpu, they are making leaps and bounds on making pc's faster, but what about the poor old modem how long has the 56k been about now?? and with no great improvement.
Is this it, 56k is as good as it gets?
Or do we all need to get isdn/adsl to get the best out of it?

comments below please :)

[Big D]

3Com has released a new GAMER-MODEM which is supposed to make Online Modem Playing like using ISDN, although I have no evidence of this yet......here's hoping... ;)

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[TFA]Slo Motion (Q2)
Dan-D (Unreal Tourney)

[Slime]

Hi,

Interesting question.

Later this year will probably see the emergence of the V90+ standard which will allow uploading speed to increase to around the 45K speed, as well as download (don't forget that V90 only allows download speeds up to 56K, but uploads are still at 33.6).

Perhaps when this happens there may be some more gaming specific modems, like the 3COM Internet gaming model (http://forums.gameplay.com/ubb/Forum31/HTML/000468.html). I still think there is more innovation possible in the area of gaming via a modem, even if it's only to improve on the circuitry inside the modems and/or lessen the latency that currently hampers all modems.

Beyond that i don't see any major improvements to modems as xDSL will be widely available and implemented in the US and Europe. Modems will always be around, but will probably only be used when someone has no other choices for data connections. I beleive that xDSL will become the defacto means of connecting to the net.

In another 1-2 years i suspect most retail PC's will have terminal adapters built-in rather than modems. The price of TA's are not that much higher than modems already, so this is a viable option. The iMAC has already demonstrated the advantages of built-in high speed access and i beleive PC's will soon follow.

That's my 2 euro's on the subject.

Cheers
Slime

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Modem Forum Moderator / Message Board Community Liaison

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