Modems

Modems

Modems are devices that modulate an analog carrier signal to encode digital information.

Industry: Network hardware

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Modems

baud rate

Network hardware; Modems

A term used to measure the speed of an analog transmission from one point to another. Although not technically accurate, baud rate is commonly used to mean bit rate.

binary digit

Network hardware; Modems

A 0 or 1, reflecting the use of the binary numbering system. Used because the computer recognizes either of two states, OFF or ON. Shortened form of binary digit is bit.

Also referred to as transmission rate. The number of binary digits, or bits, transmitted per second (bps). Communications channels using analog modems are established at set bit rates, commonly 2400, ...

bits per second (bps)

Network hardware; Modems

The bits (binary digits) per second rate. Thousands of bits per second are expressed as kilobits per second (Kbps).

buffer

Network hardware; Modems

A temporary memory area used as storage during input and output operations. An example is the modem's command buffer.

byte

Network hardware; Modems

A group of binary digits stored and operated upon as a unit. Most often the term refers to 8-bit units or characters. One kilobyte (KB) is equal to 1,024 bytes or characters; 640 KB is equal to ...