Re: Maths for Modems

Matthew Gream (mgream@nospam.acacia.itd.uts.edu.au)
Wed, 8 Jun 94 11:39:51 EST

"Anand Kumria" wrote:

> Well actually V.FAST was set about March/April of this year, I
> think netcomm are offering them as their M10/M10F modems. I think they
> upgrade you are referring to is the MNP 10 upgrade or the V.Terbo upgrade.

V.FAST was never really 'set', Rockwell merely produced the chipset at
a time when it thought the changes wouldn't be significantly different
(and due to market pressure as well :-). There is no standard, per se,
known as V.FAST.

But V.34 (it was known as V.FAST before it was assigned V.34) is due to
be ratified and released by the ITU on June 9th, which is tomorrow.

Although the fundamental details of V.34 have been known for a while,
the last part to be finalised dealt with link negotiation and
disconnect procedures, so there isn't much difference between the
operation of V.FAST and V.34, but what is is different is important :)

Anyway, the modems currently employing V.FAST Rockwell chipsets will be
plug upgradeable with new Rockwell V.34 chipsets. Most of the other
manufacturers using flash roms et al with DSP chipsets will be 'soft
upgradable'.

Do you know whether the M10/M10F's used a Rockwell chipset or their own
soft DSP code ? I suspect the former is going to be a costly upgrade
(they'll milk people with overly inflated chipset prices, just look at
how they flog off $30-$40 16550 UARTS to the unsuspecting populace when
you can get them for <$15 from a decent component dealer). At least
with soft upgrades you can, dare I say, 'borrow' one from someone else
:-).

IMHO, better off waiting 2 or 3 months before you purchase a V.34
modem, as you'll get the correct -- future proof -- chipset/software
for about the same cost as current modems, if not at lower costs, as
opposed to paying now, and then having to fork out in a few months
for an upgrade.

cheers,
Matthew.

-- 
Matthew Gream
Consent Technologies
Sydney, (02) 821-2043
M.Gream@nospam.uts.edu.au