| Hardware
that allows computers to talk to each other through
normal telephone lines. It's usually how your
computer connects to the Internet.
A modem
modulates outgoing digital signals from a computer
or other digital device to analog signals for a
conventional copper twisted pair telephone line and
demodulates the incoming analog signal and converts
it to a digital signal for the digital device.
In recent
years, the 2400 bits per second modem that could
carry e-mail has become obsolete. 14.4 Kbps and 28.8
Kbps modems were temporary landing places on the way
to the much higher bandwidth devices and carriers of
tomorrow. From early 1998, most new personal
computers came with 56 Kbps modems. By comparison,
using a digital Integrated Services Digital Network
adapter instead of a conventional modem, the same
telephone wire can now carry up to 128 Kbps. With
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) systems, now being
deployed in a number of communities, bandwidth on
twisted-pair can be in the megabit range.
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