The term "Digital Modems" isn't anything new, modems have been digital in
nature since the turn from acoustical units. By buying something like a
USR Total Control unit or Cisco's or Ascend's, you aren't physically
getting anything more than standard (usually Rockwell chipsets) modems that
are "digitally" integrated into a board. A Cisco 2511 with 16 Cardinal
modems serves the same purpose, costs a lot less money, and is more
versatile AND we have gotten better performance from them than our
as5200's(costing over 3 times as much). I think the attractiveness of a
pre-boxed unit like a 5200 is the size and only one power plug, instead of
17. Maybe I threw that digital stuff out there, but I think it is
important because of this:
When we bought our equipment(unto my knowledge), we were told the Cisco
as5200 has 48 Digital Modems. OOOOOOO, ahhhhhhhh, said my boss, I'll take
it! It's a marketing scheme, because modems are Digital-to-Analog and
Analog-to-Digital Converters and you can't change that fact because the
user calling in is sending out ANALOG signals. This is the point of going
with ISDN, ADSL, FRAD's and whatever else there is, to go to a
complete(voice and data) digital signal, which will not happen in the next
10 years. My apologies if I have offended anyone or spoke out of line, but
it is important for this to be known.
Sincerely,
Mitch Wagers
Director, Technical Service
TelCentral Internet