Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!crdgw1!minerva!kassover
From: kassover@minerva.crd.ge.com (David Kassover)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Are Modems >$ Voice? (was Re: FCC)
Message-ID: <6679@crdgw1.crd.ge.com>
Date: 9 Apr 90 20:55:19 GMT
References: <7374@sbcs.sunysb.edu> <40835@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu>
Sender: news@crdgw1.crd.ge.com
Distribution: na
Organization: Aule-Tek, Inc.
Lines: 24

In article <40835@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu> harlan@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Pete Harlan) writes:
...
>Do any readers know if calls really are broken up like that, or if
>there is just an unbroken connection from one end to the other that is
>left in place regardless of what is transmitted or not.
>

The technology exists to do this.  It is commonly done in
satellite links, and also, I believe, for cellular
radio/telephony.

Whether any particular phone call does or does not pass through
some instance of this technology is difficult to tell.

Basically, statistical multiplexers that have been tweaked for a
"typical" voice call to Aunt Grunaldehyde or your broker don't
perform so well when passing many many kilobytes at 1200 baud.

On the other hand, if you tweak them for data transmission (or go
straight time division multiplex), a conversation is hard to
have.

It seems like we're going to have the old data vs voice channel
problem again...