From Our Readers

[Ed: Links to web pages and/or email addresses which have become inactive since the publication of this article have been enclosed in curly brackets { }. Replacement links have been provided where possible.]

Letters

Editor's note: With this issue, Connect launches a new feature. "From Our Readers" will include letters written to our authors in response to past articles, as well as other reader feedback.
These are letters that were sent to Melissa Whitney, a contributing author. Make sure you check out the article written by Roger Kropf in resonspe to "The Appropriate Role of Information Technology in Instruction," in the Spring 1998 issue.

If you would like to comment on any of the articles in Connect, please contact the article's author at the e-mail address provided, or write to the editor at acf.connect@nyu.edu. -- JCM

I read in Connect that ACF upgraded to k56flex, rather than x2. If this is the case (and I do understand the whole firmware upgrade thing), why is it that the computer store has been selling x2 modems? Or perhaps I should ask the opposite question: if the NYU Bookcenters have been selling x2, then why did ACF go with k56flex? I purchased a USR x2 modem, only to learn now that I have to wait for the ITU standard to come through. Will this happen before I graduate in May? This hardly seems fair.
Alex Baker
NYU Campus Media Services

Dear Mr. Baker:
Thank you for your interest in the 56K developments at NYU.

I can answer one part of your question fairly easily -- ACF runs the DIAL service on Cisco routers and servers, which are equipped with Mica and Microcom modems. Mica and Microcom are members of the consortium that developed the k56flex protocol. Therefore, our only choice for 56K technology is k56flex. To go a little deeper, Cisco's major competitor is 3Com, who recently bought out USRobotics. USRobotics developed and owns the x2 protocol.

As to the Computer Store part of your question, my answer must be informed speculation. The Computer Store does sell both k56flex and x2 protocol modems. If they recommend USRobotics modems, I would assume it is because USR has a solid reputation as a reliable, long-term player in the modem market. With USRobotics comes the x2 protocol.

The 56K data rate is as fast as modems will go for quite a while (say, until all the telephone cables buried in New York have been replaced by new optical local loops). To choose a modem based on a protocol which will be irrelevant within a year, rather than on the overall quality of the modem and reliability of manufacturer, might be considered short-sighted.

You can use the x2 modem with the DIAL k56flex modems with a maximum rate of 33.6 until firmware upgrades are available. It seems promising that upgrades will be ready this quarter. If you would like more details on the progress on the ITU standard, take a look at the following press releases, one from USRobotics, the other from Lucent Technologies.
{www.3com.com/news/releases/}
{www.lucent.com/press/0198/}
I hope this helps makes the situation seem a little more sensible.

Best,
Melissa Whitney
ACF Technical Writer and Editor

Dear Melissa,
Thanks for the article in Connect. I just ordered a Motorola K56flex card modem for my laptop. I assume Motorola will be reliable for a software upgrade.
Sincerely yours,
Mark Nelkin
P.S. I do a lot of downloading of physics articles from Bobst at home, so this should be quite useful to me.

Since these letters came in, the ITU standard has come through. Many modem manufacturers (including Motorola) have firmware upgrades available on their websites.

ACF will be upgrading the DIAL service modems over the summer. Look for an update on using 56k modems at NYU in the Fall issue of Connect. -- MAW [ C ]

Posted: May 18, 1998. Last reviewed: March 13, 2007.