Dreaming of True 56-kbps Access?

Most of the news is good for users of 56-kbps modems. After much wrangling, the industry has agreed on a single standard for high-speed access. The Federal Communications Commission is talking about lifting its long-standing cap on data transmission speeds--roughly 53 kbps since the mid-seventies--removing an artificial barrier on access for the few who can connect at top speed. And after a slow start, ISPs are rapidly implementing V.90 in all their points of presence, the phone numbers you use for dial-up access. Add the fact that most V.90 modems cost under $100, and it's hard to imagine why anyone wouldn't jump-start their link to the Net.

But buying a new modem and cruising the Net at 56 kbps are two different matters. Experts agree that 56-kbps modems work pretty well--in an ideal world. But in the real world, any number of factors--from poor V.90 implementation to faulty electronics and shoddy ISP practices--can sabotage your chances of obtaining a dependable high-speed connection.

The industry has been "a bit disingenuous about what the average person could see with 56K," says John Navas, principal of The Navas Group, a high-tech consulting firm in Dublin, California. Navas, who's spent many hours testing 56-kbps modems, searching for the cause of slow access speeds, predicts that up to 40 percent of Web-goers will never achieve anything close to 56-kbps access. (Modem makers put that proportion closer to 15 or 20 percent.)

Sorting Through the Standards

Some of the initial hassles of 56-kbps access concerned the two competing standards, x2 and K56flex. You'd think ratification of the V.90 standard would have eliminated those problems. But agreeing on specs is one thing; implementing them is another.

"V.90 is not as ready as some people would like to believe," says Erikas Napjus, project manager for Inverse Network Technology, the Sunnyvale, California, leader in ISP performance testing. In tests of V.90-compatible modems last winter, Napjus's staff found problems with every one they tested. Some models had exceptionally high failure rates when measured against ISPs whose modems operated from another chip set. Napjus attributes this problem to incompatibilities between different chip set manufacturers' implementation of V.90.

"One vendor issues a bug fix to correct a problem with its modem, and it winds up causing a new problem with another company's product," says Napjus. The result can be anything from a slow connection to no connection at all.

In testing V.90 modems for our January review ( "V.90 Modems: The End of the Line"), PC World encountered similar problems between modems with once-competing chip sets. Matching a user's x2 modem with an ISP's x2 modem (or, likewise, K56flex with K56flex) boosted performance by up to 23 percent. So you might be better off sticking with your x2 or K56flex modem if your ISP supports that standard.

Although these examples paint a bleak picture of the future of universal compatibility, Napjus says many of V.90's problems are temporary, and updates will be complete by spring. And then we'll all be humming along at 56 kbps, right? Wrong.

Real-World Limitations

Complete and uniform implementation of the V.90 standard will solve some of the problems consumers encounter with high-speed connections. But it won't guarantee faster access for everyone who upgrades. Why not? Let's start with the indoor culprits, then work our way out.

Appliance overload. Too many devices on a single phone line--or inferior ones--can slow access speed. Most experts agree that you shouldn't have more than four devices on one line. And if you're using low-quality equipment, like a cheap phone or fax machine, as few as two devices on a single line can cause problems. "These devices continue to draw power from the line, even when they're not in use," says Navas. The cheaper the device, the more likely it is to steal power from the line.

Fortunately, it's easy to find out whether excess baggage is the cause of a slow connection. Perform this test: Log on to your ISP several times in one day, noting your connect rate each time. The next day, disconnect everything but your modem and log on at roughly the same times. If you see faster rates on the second day, you've probably identified appliance overload as at least one cause of poor performance.

Consider devoting a single line to Internet access. Alternatively, invest about $15 in a line protector, a device about the size of a 9-volt battery that plugs into your phone jack and cuts off any connected phones or fax machines whenever you're online. It may not solve all your problems, but it's worth a try.

Wiring woes. You may also have to look at the line itself. First, find out if you have a noisy line (typically the result of older or substandard wiring inside your home). Phone someone and ask them to put you on hold. If you hear a hum or other feedback, chances are you have inferior wiring. Although this problem isn't as easily corrected as appliance overload, it's worth calling your phone company to see if it can fix your wiring. A word of caution: Most phone companies charge by the hour to repair inside wiring. Don't request a technician unless you have a wiring service plan that entitles you to free repairs.

Another source of wiring problems, according to Navas, stems from phone companies' use of subscriber line concentrators called multiplexers. Multiplexers are often used in areas experiencing rapid population growth and thus a high demand for new phone lines. Rather than running a new line for every new connection, phone companies often piggyback many connections on a single line. As long as the connection is direct to the main digital switch, multiplexing needn't degrade performance. But certain types of multiplexers require a digital-to-analog conversion between your home or office and the central switching office. In such cases you have no chance of a rate higher than 33.6 kbps. And just as you can't do much about a multiplexed line, you can forget about high-speed access if your home or office is more than about 3.5 miles from the phone company's central switching office.

ISP practices. The efficiency of the ISP also affects connect rates substantially. Since some ISPs contract with alternative carriers to reroute calls, you may be connecting to the Web via a site many miles away, an arrangement that typically results in a poorer connection. Performance will also be hampered if your ISP routes calls through what Navas calls "choke points"--much-used hubs that inevitably bog down during peak times.

If your ISP rep doesn't want to answer questions about these practices, you can test your ISP yourself. Windows has a utility called TracerT that will identify the route by which you're connected to the Web. Dial in to a few sites and check the location of the first connection using TracerT. If it's not the city where your POP is located, call your ISP.

Beyond tracing your route to the Web, take advantage of a free trial offer from an ISP and compare its performance with that of your current provider (see our March review "Good Providers: The Best National and Regional ISPs"). If you consistently see better performance with a different ISP, it's time for a change.

Time to Upgrade?

Given all the potential problems, don't expect your new V.90 modem to double your access speed. Some consumers won't see any increase until they switch over to cable, ISDN, or a digital subscriber line. But a little sleuthing may uncover the information you need to take advantage of a fast modem and move out of the slow lane for good.