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Telephone lines were designed to carry voices. Modems had to be developed to convert digital data into signals that could travel over the phone lines. The converted data sounds like hissing, but is meaningful to a modem on the other end of the line. 14.4                          28.8                               33.6                      A modem's speed is measured in bits per second (bps). A 14.4 modem sends data at 14,400 bits per second. A 28.8 modem is twice as fast. Until 1995 many people thought that 28.8 kbps was the fastest speed possible on a regular telephone line. However, there are now 33.6kbps modems, and 56 kbps modems will be out in 1997. Not long ago, modems transferred data at only 2400 bps. Today, modems run faster and are easier to use. In addition to modulating signals, modems also control traffic back and forth using communications protocols such as V.32, V.32bis, V.42bis. It is important to know the modem speed supported by your Internet Service Provider. If your ISP has only 28.8 kbps capacity, that is the fastest connection you can achieve out to the Internet, regardless of the speed of your modem at home. Other things can impact the apparent speed of your modem. For example, line noise on your telephone line may cause data to be resent reducing the overall connection speed.

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