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The History of Modems
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History of Modems
Emiliano Galvan
The first modems
History
The main modems people tend to care about were developed around the 1960s, but they date back as far as the 1920s, first being multiplex devices used by news wire services. Although the modem function was incidental to the multiplexing function, which explains them not being acknowledged in the history of modems.
The Bell-103: First Commercial Modem
In 1962, the Bell 103 was manufactured and sold as the first commercial modem by AT&T. The modem permitted full-duplex data transmission over conventional telephone circuits, being able to send data at a rate of 300 bits per second, which felt reasonable for the time period.
Bell 103
Development to 56k
Over time, modems experienced a rapid and exponential evolution. This lead to the invention of the 56k modem by Dr. Brent Townshend in 1996, which set a new upper limit for the transfer rate of modems moving into the future.
Development
Townshend
Dr. Brent Townshend before the 56k modem's conception worked as a principal investigator for Bell Labs (a subsidiary of AT&T) studying speech recognition and speech encoding from 1987-1990.
Townshend
56k Modem
Timeline
1980's
14.4k Modems
(Sportster)
1950's
First Modems
Timeline
1962
Bell 103
1996
56k Modems
Modems in the
present era
Modern
Modems
Modems, much with various amounts of technology, have come a long way since their humble beginnings from many years back.
Here are just a few examples of some modern modems.
Cable Modems
Mainly used for connecting a computer or local network to a sort of network bridge to provide bi-directional data communication via radio frequency channels.
Cable
DSL Modems
Mostly utilized for connecting a computer or a router to a telephone line, providing the digital subscriber line service for connection to the internet
DSL
Fiber Modems
Acts as an connecting interface between electronic devices and an internet network, by using a fiber optic cable network to transmit signals.
Fiber
Some factoids
Fun Fact
- The term "Modem" is an abbreviation of the devices function
- Modems are designed for the transmission of data firsthand, and provide zero internet connectivity at their core. (Modem Router combos do exist)
- Leased Line Modems are a type of modem mainly used in private communications channels from a common carrier.
Questions?
Questions
Works Cited
https://www.britannica.com/technology/modem
https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-the-modem-4077013
https://history-computer.com/modem-complete-history-of-the-modem/
https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/brent-townshend