FYI, K56flex vs. x2 vs. wait and see. From Communications Week
techweb.com
Should You Make The Leap?
... Tough Choices
One example of how frenetic the market is right now is
Ascend's free hardware swapout. Make the move before Aug.
30 and you can swap out your old V.34 modem cards on any
Ascend product for free. Miss the deadline, and you're
looking at paying $6,800 to install 56K modem cards on
Ascend's low-end, 16-port Max 1800 chassis.
BBN Corp., Cambridge, Mass., one of Ascend's largest
customers, has scheduled a national rollout of 56K at all
of its 200-plus points-of-presence, to be completed by
year's end. In the process, it had to swap out modem
cards in the Ascend remote access equipment throughout
its network to support the higher speed. But Patrick
Kloepfer, a BBN product manager, says the real benefit is
the modem cards' greater port density (72 vs. 48), which
lets BBN expand its network capacity by 50 percent.
Upgrading the remote access hub is only the first step.
Another upgrade will be required when a final, unified
standard emerges, and that will be faster than most
manufacturers anticipate.
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SIDEBAR: TECH TIPS
In the market for 56K? Here are a few points you should
consider:
- Be sensible. If you must buy 56K now, choose the
standard supported by the manufacturer of the remote
access equipment you already have on your network. The
real expense of 56K comes from upgrading central site
equipment. Hold off purchases until the ITU standard
emerges early next year.
- Check your comm links. Before buying 56K modems, make
sure your phone line doesn't connect to the central
office through a PBX, older SLC or other device that may
limit PCM transmissions. U.S. Robotics' BBS includes an
x2 Line Test that uses a V.34 modem to determine line
quality. Check USR's special Web page at
x2.usr.com for details.
- Ask your online provider lots of questions. Find out
which 56K technology your service provider supports
before making a buying decision. Also check to see if
there's an extra charge for 56K service-it can be as much
as $6 an hour for some ISPs-and whether you'll have a
local access number for 56K service.
- See if a software upgrade will do. Although older,
inexpensive modems will likely need replacing, many newer
modems, especially those that support V.34, can be
software-upgraded to 56K. The upgrade may be free if your
purchase was recent enough, so be sure to check with the
manufacturer before committing.
- Be patient. Expect frequent busy signals with an ISP's
initial 56K service. Sales of the new modems have
sometimes outstripped deployment of 56K ports.
- Be realistic. Transmission rates exceeding 50 Kbps will
be rare outside of newer phone lines close to the central
office. 56K's asymmetric nature makes it a poor choice
for connections requiring a balanced exchange of data,
such as video conferencing. If that's what you require,
wait for symmetric 56K to appear next year. Better still,
hold off until xDSL, cable modems and satellite
transmissions are available. |
