is it possible to overclock a modem

[WINDSHEAR]

I'm quite familiar with other hardware, but I'm not familiar with modems that well, and so I was wondering if there was some way to break the assigned 50.6kbps limit. And modems have in the past been overclocked with some mods, so I know I'm not entirely stupid in asking this.

 

[Arucard]

No. You're limited by the other end anyway.

 

[Flakes]

I'm quite familiar with other hardware, but I'm not familiar with modems that well, and so I was wondering if there was some way to break the assigned 50.6kbps limit. And modems have in the past been overclocked with some mods, so I know I'm not entirely stupid in asking this.

on the older 56k mndeoms you used to be able to dowload firmware hacks that woul dallow for higher speed, cause the isp used to upgrade the internet speed by sending a firmware update to the router, this im pretty sure doesnt happen anymore and is fully controlled by the other end.

 

[Mobius]

Yes, you can overclock a modem by pushing the PCI bus beyond 33MHz - but this won't iprove your connection speed, throughput or anything else. Additionally, PCI devices are very intolerant of Bus frequency changes and you'd be lucky to get past 36 MHz for most devices.

The best thing you can do is to buy yourself a proper, stand-alone, hardware modem.

"Software Modems" (or "Winmodems") pass off most of the processing to the CPU, and are very inferior to proper hardware modems.

US Robotics make some nice hardware modems, and so do 3Com from memory.

These devices increase total data throughput, perform excellent compression/decompression, can lower your ping time by as much as 25ms, and are far more stable than a stupid Winmodem. If you have absolutely no choice except to be on dial-up, then you need a hardware modem - that's for sure.

P.S. I used to get 55,666 bps on my hardware modem in New Zealand, that was on the V90 spec. We don;t have a connection speed limit like exists in the USA though. That's just retarded. 😛

P.S. did you know that a 56K modem can only upload at a maximum of 33,000 bps?

 

[dstaple]

Getting an analog modem above 56k on a phone line is impossible. Even if the hardware on your ISP's end was capable of greater than 56k by some freak of nature, the voice portion of a telephone line eventually gets jammed into 64k of bandwidth anyway. Yours should be able to train above 50.6 though, if your phone line, modem, and isp's hardware is perfect (I think 57600 is the fastest I've seen reported by windows.)

As for other ways of getting dialup to go faster, 56k V. 90 was the fastest analog protocol that was implemented in any decent manner, so there are no more firmware upgrades for you to get. The way download accelerators work is to compress data like text, crappy images, etc, before sending it across the line. They won't help you download mp3s and things faster, but it'd probably help with checking your email, etc. As far as I can tell, all the registry mods and such things available on the internet are not worth looking at.

One amusing thing that could be done, if you had two phone lines to waste, would be to get two modems and multiplex them, the same way that multiple internet connections are load balanced for small servers and such. I have never seen anyone with this setup on dialup, and think it'd be hilarious.

P.S. The reason that analog modems never went faster than 56k was because they would have had to break transmission regulations in order to do so.

 

[dstaple]

Good call on getting a proper modem.

U.S. Robotics makes sweet modems. I think if I had to use dialup I'd try to get my hands on one of their external modems, just for the awesomeness factor (they aren't any faster or anything ridiclious like that.) Watch out if you're going to buy a USR modem though, those guys actually make cheaper winmodems in addition to their good modems, which would defeat the purpose of shelling out $$ for a good modem.

3com bought USR with the money they made off of their Palm Pilots, but they still use the USR brand for their modems, because they were the best modems ever made.

 

[GherkinPekul]

The other limiting factor here is the condition of the phone system. I had a 56k that would hit 53. When I moved to Outer Podunkistan, I was lucky to hit 42. Both isps were about the same distance from my location.

 

[turpit]

The other limiting factor here is the condition of the phone system. I had a 56k that would hit 53. When I moved to Outer Podunkistan, I was lucky to hit 42. Both isps were about the same distance from my location.

Your in Outer Podunkistan too??? Northern or southern province?

 

[GherkinPekul]

Western, actually.

 

[WOWchamp]

Wanting to overclock a 56k modem is like wanting to be the worlds tallest midget....

Get broadband.... their are forms of DSL out there that are 20-30$ per month and offer vastly superior connection rates. I think verzion should only be 29.95 per month and you get atleast 1500/256 which is a far cry better then 56/.33 lmao



Personally you should just get verizon FIOS if its available in your area and you can afford the 50$ per month. 15000/3000 is nothing to sneeze at considering we pay 43$ per month for 4000/512.

 

[WINDSHEAR]

can't get DSL out here, unless we wanna pay $600, and then $70 a month thereafter. We just don't happen to be rich.

Oh, and that is dirty they LIMIT dialup!?!?!? isn't it slow enough! :x

I've gotta get a US Robotics....

also, on my BCM I can set the baudrate to 962100bps... instead of the default 115200, and it seems to run and connect faster. (I'm also guessing that a Broadcom is a winmodem :roll.

I've noticed that uploading is really slow, I could have guessed it was limited. 🙁

Oh, and you want an example of how much the phone line quality affects speed? Here we connect at 46.6 regularly. Take the same modem one mile down the road, (one mile closer to town), and we absolutely cannot get it to connect faster than 26.4.

 

[WINDSHEAR]

yeah, our ISP claims to have 5 times faster dialup than other ISP's. Also, while we never connect faster than 50.6, it's the download speed that seems faster with 921600. It also helps it to connect at 50.6 more often. :?

I haven't had any corrupted downloads that I can recall (this is after a couple of years of downloading p2p). Actually last month is when I started downloading in earnest. I now have 750MB... and I have downloaded several GB of programs over the past year or so. My bandwidth is rarely left unused, as you can see. 😉

and yeah, clean phone line has a lot to do with connection speed.

 

[JonathanDeane]

You cant get faster then 56K over a phone line... its physics thats getting in your way not anything else... analog signals over copper can only modulate so fast. Another limiting factor is line noise and its not what most people think. If you did go over 56K with an analog signal you would need shielding on the line so that when people who where talking on the phone on other lines in the same bundle did not hear the "kkkksssshhhhhhhbbbbrrraaaabababbaaaabaaaa" sounds.

 

[TheMaster]

You can overclock a cable modem... but you'll quickly get a legal notice telling you that it was not such a good idea to steal bandwidth.
My friend found that one out the hard way.

 

[TheMaster]

You cant get faster then 56K over a phone line... its physics thats getting in your way not anything else... analog signals over copper can only modulate so fast. Another limiting factor is line noise and its not what most people think. If you did go over 56K with an analog signal you would need shielding on the line so that when people who where talking on the phone on other lines in the same bundle did not hear the "kkkksssshhhhhhhbbbbrrraaaabababbaaaabaaaa" sounds.

So how is it that dsl goes over that same phone line at much faster speed?
Same with network cables...

The reason 56K only does about 48Kbps is because its limited to 3000Hz of bandwidth. The phone companies only allow a certain range of frequencies through. They do that so then they can put all those signals on one wire and send it over a long distance. Each one is modulated to a frequency higher than the previous one, so all the signals are stacked on top of each other. Then they demodulate all those signals at the receiving station. With a smaller bandwidth they can fit more signals in on one wire or optic cable if you're going across the ocean.

I'm not to sure about whether the 56K is a limit, i don't even know what frequencies it operates on? I'd be curious to find out though...
It seems like it's just a standard used by the telephone companies.

Even if you were able to exceed the bandwidth limitations, i'm sure the tel com company filters out anything outside the bandwidth. Unless, you live in a country with a larger bandwidth limitations.

When all else fails you can always go SLI w/ 2 modems :lol:

 

[michaelahess]

You're getting your bauds and bits mixed up.

A lot of crappy modems or modems with the wrong driver installed will report 57600 or 115200, this is the bit rate, the speed at which the modem (serial UART usually a 16550 varient) communicates with the computer, it has NOTHING to do with the speeds on the internet, bbs, etc. The BAUD rate of 56K does, and most modems report this like 32K, 48K, 52K, etc.

If you up the bit rate higher than the modem controller can function properly (mostly winmodems) you may get corrupt data as wusy said. I have never had 2 modems link at full speed (56K), even when I tried two USR 56k hardware modems with a 3 foot phone line between them with no error correction! It sure seemed fast, but the connect speed was still only 53Kb.

When ISP's advertise 5x Faster! They are f-ing with you, they HIGHLY compress the graphics to speed it up (AOL was the worst). One ISP I worked at used Propel and it was amazing how many people would pay $5 a month more for NOTHING! Disable images in your browser and you'll even surf faster!

Edit: DSL is faster since it's digital, not analog. Digital can cram WAY more info into the same bandwidth.

Edit2: Most UARTs are only capable of 115200 so setting bit rate higher will have no effect on them as they are already maxed out.

 

[DestroyerOfSenses]

You can always do what my buddy did (he is in the same situation). Setup a proxy on somones computer (or your own) intown/on a highspeed connection. You could then dial that proxy server using its highspeed to get you the best speed 56k can deliver. I'm not clear on the logistics of it all because im not a networkin wiz like he is, but I believe that might be the best way to do it if its possible( I could be wrong however and correct me if I am). If you can't get your hands on a computer check the local school's for old hardware, he setup his proxy on an old fujitsu witch a 'non functional'(broken) screen. PII Proc 128mb RAM 4gb HDD winXP PRO.

Goodluck

 

[306maxi]

Someone at my work suggested

"I'd rather try to master whistling at 9600 baud, then you can tap straight into the interweb via a bluetooth headset"

:lol:

 

[WINDSHEAR]

well I have an old spare modem sitting here, I think I'm gonna fiddle with the electronics and reprogram it, and see if I can't make it go faster. Just for the heck of it.

 

[bombasschicken]

I'm quite familiar with other hardware, but I'm not familiar with modems that well, and so I was wondering if there was some way to break the assigned 50.6kbps limit. And modems have in the past been overclocked with some mods, so I know I'm not entirely stupid in asking this.

What is a MODEM? does such a thing actually exist? anh. this is just some silly joke.. only 50.6k? haha funny one..

 

[PhilFrisbie]

You can always do what my buddy did (he is in the same situation). Setup a proxy on somones computer (or your own) intown/on a highspeed connection. You could then dial that proxy server using its highspeed to get you the best speed 56k can deliver.

Sorry, but that will not work. 56K PC modems operate asynchronously, that is, they can DOWNLOAD at up to 56K, but they upload at a max of 33.6K. So there is no way you can get higher than a 33.6K connection when dialing up another PC.

So, you wonder, why can an ISP offer you a connection higher than 33.6K? They can do that because they have special modems that connect to a dedicated 56K channel of a T-1 data line. Not something you would want to install at your home!

Also, in the US you will NEVER see a connection speed higher than 53K because of bandwidth restrictions on voice lines.

 

[WINDSHEAR]

You can always do what my buddy did (he is in the same situation). Setup a proxy on somones computer (or your own) intown/on a highspeed connection. You could then dial that proxy server using its highspeed to get you the best speed 56k can deliver.

Sorry, but that will not work. 56K PC modems operate asynchronously, that is, they can DOWNLOAD at up to 56K, but they upload at a max of 33.6K. So there is no way you can get higher than a 33.6K connection when dialing up another PC.

So, you wonder, why can an ISP offer you a connection higher than 33.6K? They can do that because they have special modems that connect to a dedicated 56K channel of a T-1 data line. Not something you would want to install at your home!

Also, in the US you will NEVER see a connection speed higher than 53K because of bandwidth restrictions on voice lines.

@ FCC

 

[JonathanDeane]

"So how is it that dsl goes over that same phone line at much faster speed?
Same with network cables...

The reason 56K only does about 48Kbps is because its limited to 3000Hz of bandwidth. The phone companies only allow a certain range of frequencies through. They do that so then they can put all those signals on one wire and send it over a long distance. Each one is modulated to a frequency higher than the previous one, so all the signals are stacked on top of each other. Then they demodulate all those signals at the receiving station. With a smaller bandwidth they can fit more signals in on one wire or optic cable if you're going across the ocean.

When all else fails you can always go SLI w/ 2 modems :lol:"

DSL.... Digital Subscriber Line.... Modem short for Modulator Demodulator... One is analog one is digital See ? I said analog signal now if you want to talk about a digital signal and the complexities of working with a DSLAM and other telco equipment let me know but 56K is the limit sorry and it has nothing to do with the phone company alowing anything its FCC regulations... that whole comunications device sticker thing you also have multiplexing mixed in with 56K modems wich I guess in some convoluted way would work but by the time it hits those lines your data is no longer a phone signal its already merged onto the net by your ISP's back bone nothing to do with fitting more signals onto a line... In short if your using an old analog modem 56K is the limit if your using DSL (does not work in all area's hmmm wonder why.....hehehe) your speed will depend on how close you are to the local CO or DSLAM.. I switched to cable and now enjoy 7Mbps 😛
Oh and "SLI" with 2 modems is called Shotgun and that idea died, if you can find an ISP in your area that supports that it would be a neat trick.

 

[bront]

You're better off waxing it. Use the same kind of wax that is used on surf boards. This works best on external modems, but will work on internal ones as well.

 

[pazsion]

ook.. lets break this down from what i know off hand

yes you can..

by OCing pci

PCI has 33,66 mhz check your hardware specs...most nics do not have this listed...they dont build them for performance.. And often do not use updated technology. Most chips on these things only work at like 4mhz..

The killer NIC card is the only one i see stateing NPU of 400mhz..

this is why ust adding a NIC with ram or just more then one, to a switch to one router..sees more improvements... they all work together to handle the information.. espesally when bridged.. or if supported by your OS or ISP multi-cast, and multi connect abilities..

Your pci bus or PCI-x will only safely go to 66mhz.. you can push it past his all you want.. I once got it to 75mhz.. but to acheive 66mhz.. its a 33mhz chip... runing to a x2 multiplyer much like fsb.. So unless hardware specified your NPU to PCI processing is at 33mhz.. until you OC the nic itself.

OCing the PCI bus itself.. will allow you to process the information quicker and more of the information per clock cycle.. eleminating any bottle neck or causeing a bottle neck if you are pushing it too much.. the code for nic isnt designed for OCing.. So it will begin to fail , drop connections, have errors with information.. once you stat pushing it too far..

at 75mhz my highest pci bus clock not pci-e =D which is 166mhz x 16channels...<add specifics here or wiki link>

I did not notice any degridation in signal.. downloads were quicker..
(300mb and 1.6gb d/ls from a local source) transfering files between pc's over nic cuts out the what if's of the teleco's and the fcc for now..

We first want to know if it can be done and is it useable.

1.6gb over a 100mb x 3 nic.. on 16mb down 2.6 up ISP
did take under an hour.. from 2 very distant sources..

pc 2 pc the nics seemed to push past then theroretical limitations..
12-20mb/s with spikes of 150mb/s per nic.

I wish i still had the benchmarks handy..

Pings were reduced with straight fresh oem install.. just oc'ed and optimal windows settings..

0-100ms up to 1000miles away... san fransisco often came in at 90-160ms


once you get your tweaks set, just remeber that your results will vary all the time.. and wont stay the same.. the internet's conditions vary.. so will your speeds. And not ust because of things fcc and teleco's control..

The only thing i Havent done yet is physically OC, OV or modify a modem or cable modem... I dont know where to begin.. where is thee documentaion for their pinouts etc??