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From: deboni@fernando.llnl.gov (Tom DeBoni)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.comm
Subject: Very High Speed Modems and Macs
Message-ID: <85816@lll-winken.LLNL.GOV>
Date: 9 Nov 90 18:29:33 GMT
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Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
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I'm interested in high speed modems, and I've been reading about new standards
proposals for very high speed operation over standard phone lines. The only
trouble with all this is finding serial port devices that will go that fast
and writing system software to support them.Tthis naturally leads me to wonder
just how fast the serial ports in Macs will go. I've seen measurements
indicating that Macs have trouble keeping up with 19,200 bps data rates, but
I believe this is due to software, not hardware. I know that my Mac IIcs can't
keep up with my Telebit T2500 in either of its two fastest modes (PEP and
V.42bis) with color turned on, and that it does much better with color turned
off. Anybody out there in netland know how fast Apples modem port can operate,
and how fast the system software can send and receive data? Are there any
plans to make them faster? Will the nuBus serial cards that can be used with
the Comm Tool Box support any higher speeds? I'm thinking of the proposed
ultimate modem standards, which have numbers like 56,000 bps, 78,000 bps, and
even 100,000+ bps being bandied about in them. if these things come about, it
sure would be nice to be able to use them. And for that matter, what of the
possibility of an ISDN card that can offer all of the initial phase speed of
144,000 bpc (to say nothing of the ultimate planned T1 speeds of 1.544 Mbps)?

Tom DeBoni