V.90: As Fast as It's Going to Get
Modem vendors reject a proposed standard that
would have boosted the upload speed of V.90
modems.
by Brian McWilliams, PC World Daily News Radio
July 28, 1998, 3:46 p.m. PT
A proposal to boost the upload speeds of V.90
modems has died, apparently due to poor modem
sales and the indifference of manufacturers.
Current V.90 modems are limited to 33.6-kbps
upstream speeds. But Lucent has developed a way to enable nearly symmetrical data rates, with upload speeds approaching 45 kbps.
More than a year ago, Lucent proposed that its
technology become part of the International
Telecommunications V.90 standard, which will be
ratified in September. But according to Les Brown, a
Motorola engineer and rapporteur for the ITU study
group on 56-kbps modems, Lucent's proposal never
made it into the spec, and the company hasn't pushed
to have it added to the second revision of the V.90
spec, to be released next year.
On Thursday this week, the ITU's 56K study group will
meet in Quebec City to finalize the V.90 spec before it
goes to the vote in September. Lucent spokesperson
Charlie Hartley said the company still thinks the
technology is promising, but Lucent won't bring a
formal proposal to the meeting.
Analysts say that since most modem users are Web
surfers, the industry doesn't see the 33-percent
upstream speed increase Lucent offers as worth the
trouble. Many modem companies are now turning their
attention to building DSL products rather than
enhancing their analog modems. Lucent says it has no
plans currently to develop the technology as a
proprietary standard.
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