A Brief History and Explanation of Modems

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A modem (modulate demodulate) is a network device that both modulates and demodulates analog carrier signals (called sine waves) for encoding and decoding digital information for processing (Janssen C 2014). The most common use of modems is both for sending and receiving digital information between personal computers and for connecting to the internet. Modem is considered as an important hardware of computer and most computers in the past came with a built in modem, but now many manufacturers are not including it because of the increased popularity of broadband connections. This essay will concisely discuss the history of the modem and highlight the key developments of this technology. It will also throw light on the factors that influenced this technology and outline its current features.

Modems originated as a way for teletype machines to communicate over ordinary telephone lines. When the US Air Force needed a convenient way of transmitting hundreds of radar images to command centers during the Cold War in the end of 1940s, they turned to the telephone system and modems as a solution (Dalakov 2014). Thus, first digital modem was developed in 1950s. In 1962, the first commercial modem was manufactured – the Bell 103 by AT&T. The Bell 103 was also the first modem with full- duplex transmission, frequency-shift keying, and had a speed of 300 bits per second (Wright 2014). For many years, AT&T hold a monopoly on the phone system in the United States, so only AT&T could provide modems to work on its network (Edwards 2014). Companies got around this restriction by inventing the acoustic coupler, which hooked a radio or modem to the telephone system via a cradle in which the user placed a standard phone handset. This way, the modem c...

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