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U.S. Robotics Ships 56K Modems

News coincides with AOL%squots announcement of field-testing 56-kbps modems by USR and Cardinal.

By James Niccolai, PCWorld   

The news coincides with America Online%squots announcement that it plans to begin field trials of U.S. Robotics%squot 56-kbps modems on Friday, and Cardinal Technologies%squot announcements of a new 56-kbps modem line due in stores by the end of March.

The modems allow users to download data from the Internet and other networks at almost twice the speed of 28.8-kbps modems. Upstream rates for the new modems, however, top out at around 33 kbps.

No technical standard has been set for 56-kbps technology, and a race to market has emerged between U.S. Robotics%squot x2 implementation on one hand, and mutually compatible specifications from Lucent Technologies Inc., Rockwell Semiconductor Systems Ltd., and Motorola Corp. on the other.

Being early to market is seen as a bonus for U.S. Robotics, since the version of 56 kbps that gains a larger market share early on stands a better chance of being adopted as the standard later, observers say. U.S. Robotics delayed shipment of its modems for undisclosed reasons last week, but appears now to have made it to the finish line first.

Cardinal%squots new Connecta modems also use x2 technology, and the first modems using the Rockwell-Lucent chips aren%squott due for at least another month.

AOL%squots tests are designed to see what speeds users can realistically expect from the products, said Barbara Ewen, a spokeswoman for ANS Communications Ltd, an AOL subsidiary. ANS is conducting the tests with another AOL subsidiary, AOL Networks Inc. The results are unlikely to be made public, she added.

The AOL tests will last %dquotas long as necessary%dquot and could potentially involve thousands of users, Ewan said. The tests will be conducted in New York, Washington, San Francisco, Chicago, and U.S. Robotics%squot home town of Skokie, Ill.

Only users who buy the new 56 kbps modems can take part in the tests, since upgrades of existing U.S. Robotics modems to 56 kbps are not yet available. The upgrades will be available in North America %dquotvery soon; no date has been set yet,%dquot USR spokeswoman Kathleen Behof said.

Dates have not yet been set for release of the 56K modems in Europe and the Pacific Rim, but will follow shortly, officials said. The technology will be demonstrated at the CeBIT trade show in Hannover, Germany, next month.

Behof said U.S. Robotics has already conducted its own field tests with the modems, and is comfortable shipping them before the AOL tests have begun. %dquotThey%squotre ready to go out the door,%dquot she said.

Observers have noted that 56 kbps may be something of a misnomer for the products. U.S. Robotics and its competitors have acknowledged that the quality of a user%squots phone line will affect the performance of the modem, and is likely to compromise it in many cases. In addition, a federal law limiting the strength of signals that can be transferred from digital to analog networks limits the speed of the new modems to around 53 kbps even before transmission has begun.

Pricing for the U.S. Robotics modems, as previously announced, ranges from $199 for an internal Sportster fax-data model to $275 for an external Courier V. Everything.