Spider's V.90 Guide for Beginners
By Paul Christie
(c) Euro-tech.co.uk 1999
** PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS UNTIL YOU ARE ABLE TO SURF**
HOW CAN I TELL IF I AM CURRENTLY USING V.90?
WHAT IF MY CONNECTION SPEED IS REPORTED AS 115200?
I AM ONLY CONNECTING AT 42K?
MY MODEM BOX SAYS IT'S UPGRADABLE BUT I HAVE NO UPGRADE DISK?
HOW DO I TELL IF I HAVE A 2MB MODEM?
Potted History:
When 56k modems were first released there were two modem chip manufactures who had different and incompatible implementations:
USRobotics - X2 standard
Rockwell - K56Flex
This situation was difficult for ISP's because the ISP that to have one telephone number for people who were using X2 and another telephone access number for people using K56Flex modems!
These two companies got together and produced a single NEW 56k standard called 'v.90', which required the ISP's to have a third access number.
FORTUNATLY, when 56k modems were first released, modem manufacturers knew that the 56k standard would change and therefore used a chip on the modem that could be updated by running a program called a wizard. The new 'program' that is programmed onto the chip is called FIRMWARE. Therefore these modems are labeled FIRMWARE UPGRADABLE.
2MB Products?
In order to prevent these V.90 worries, most modems built this year have a 2MB FIRMWARE chip on them (as opposed to 1MB). These 2MB modems hold BOTH k56Flex AND V.90 on their chip ALREADY!!! and DO NOT HAVE TO BE UPDATED. When you make a call to an ISP (with a 2MB modem) it will detect which standard on 56k modem ANSWERED the phone and will switch automatically.
To check if you have a 2MB modem: goto controlpanel>modem>diags>moreinfo. and see if the reply to ATI3 contains the text "_2m" or "2M" or "v90"! If it does then your do NOT require any firmware upgrades, ever!!
HOW CAN I TELL IF I AM CURRENTLY USING V.90?
What speed are you currently connecting to the internet at?
When connecting to the internet your system will display a conneciton speed such as
28.8k, 32k, 36k,42.6k
Any speeds faster than 33.6k are 56k speeds, so if you are calling a V.90number then you are connecting at V.90!!!!!!!!
WHAT IF MY CONNECTION SPEED IS REPORTED AS 115200?
115200 is your DTE speed, the speed at which your PC is talking to the modem.
In order to display the DCE speed, the speed at which your modem is talking to another modem, you should add the W2 string in your modem's initialisation string.
Under Win95/98 this is done by:
Mycomputer>dialupnetworking>rightmouse click your ISP name>properties>configure>connection>advanced>initial settings>W2
DO I NEED V.90?
If your ISP supports V.90 and your current connection speed is 28.8k then upgrading to V.90 is recommended.
The average maximum connection speed at 9.90 is 42k, with K56Flex it's only 40k.
I AM ONLY CONNECTING AT 42K?
42k is the average connection speed (at v.90) in the U.K.
Generally a V.90 connection will be between 30-46k. The maximum connection speed is not fixed it can fluctuate from call to call, pending line conditions, weather conditions, distance from the exchange..
If 40k is the maximum connection speed you get, you may want to call BT and ask them to increase the GAIN on the line. This will normally squeeze and extra 1 or 2k more.
MY MODEM BOX SAYS IT'S UPGRADABLE BUT I HAVE NO UPGRADE DISK?
See explanation of 2MB below.
HOW DO I TELL IF I HAVE A 2MB MODEM?
2MB modems hold BOTH k56Flex AND V.90 on their chip ALREADY!!! and DO NOT HAVE TO BE UPDATED.
To see if your modem is 2MB check the responses to ATI3 & 5 in controlpan>modem>diagnose>com?>moreinfo
To see if they contain the text 2M, _2, 2MB or similar.