One of the primary uses for laptop computers is to keep in touch with the home office. The traditional method for remote access is to use a modem, but nowadays an increasing amount of remote communication is done with a broadband connection, such as DSL or a cable modem, attached to a network interface in the laptop or through wireless networking. It is not uncommon to find hotels, coffee shops, and airports that offer high-speed connections. In addition, there's an ever increasing number of wireless networks set up throughout the country, offering wide-area high-speed wireless connections. Although we all may have used a modem, some of us may not know exactly how it works. Traditionally, a modem works by modulating a stream of digital pulses into an audio signal. The process is similar to the way a radio transmitter modulates relatively low-frequency speech and music into a high-frequency carrier wave. On the other end of the connection, the modem then demodulates the audio signal to obtain the original stream of digital pulses. The name modem in fact derives from its function: modulate, demodulate. The maximum speed that can be obtained using a modulation/demodulation technique is 33.6Kbps, the speed provided by the V.34 modems that became available in the mid-1990s. In 1998, the V.90 modem standard attempted to bypass this speed restriction by avoiding the modulation step for one half of the communication path. Because typical web usage requires much more data being sent downstream from the website to the web viewer, this mode was speeded up to 56Kbps by using pulse-code modulationa method similar to that used to encode data on a CD-ROM disc. The upstream path, which usually handles less data, continued to be limited to 33.6Kbps. Unfortunately, even a simple modem connection cannot be taken for granted. Most hotel rooms in the United States provide an easily accessible phone-line connector for use with a laptop modem. But a few do not. In fact, in many places, finding a phone line to plug in to can be a real challenge. Products now on the market, however, can help you overcome these problems, even if you are traveling overseas. V.92 ModemsEver since the dawn of personal computers in the 1970s, we have seen continual and dramatic advances in modem speeds. Now, however, with the popularity of broadband DSL connections, modem advancements seem to have stalled. The latest modem standard, called V.92, was introduced by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) in July of 2000 and represented only a minor advancement over the previous V.90 standard. The older V.90 standard for modems provided data rates up to 56Kbps over Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) lines. The V.92 added the following enhancements:
To increase effective modem speeds further, the ITU recommended a new data-compression standard called V.44, based on the LZJH compression algorithm developed by Hughes Network Systems. This technique gives an improvement in compression of more than 25% beyond the existing ITU recommendation V.42bis. The ITU expects a data-compression ratio in the region of 6:1 for a typical web-browsing connection. The net result should be an effective data throughput rate in excess of 300Kbps, compared with typical values of 150200Kbps today, thus significantly reducing download times and speeding up web browsing. As most modem users will agree, the actual data rates seen over typical phone lines are below these estimates and indeed well below those available from DSL technologies. The V.92 standard has the advantage, however, of not requiring any special installation on the part of the network provider, leaving upgrades solely up to the direct control of ISPs and users. Although broadband connections are the preferred communication type for most users, the fact is that in most of the world, modems will be the state of the art for some time to come. Because of the popularity of modems and their low cost, almost all of today's notebooks are equipped with them as standard. They are sometimes installed as Mini PCI cards. In the recent past, manufacturers would install a combination Mini PCI card that included both a modem and a network interface card (NIC). As the development of new modem standards has slowed and the probability of new standards in the near future has decreased, we now have seen V.92 modem circuitry integrated directly onto the motherboard of the laptops. A number of older laptops, however, are not equipped with modems. These systems can be equipped with external modems connected by a serial cord, but a much more portable approach is to insert a PC Card modem into one of the laptop's PCMCIA slots. PC Card ModemsMost current laptops have internal modems installed in them. In previous days, however, the only way to equip a notebook computer with a modem was to use a modem in the form of a PCMCIA or PC Card. Of course, a Type II PC Card is only 5.5mm (0.19 inches) thick, which does not leave enough room for a standard RJ-11 phone line connector. To provide this connection, manufacturers came up with three different solutions:
Even though most of today's notebooks already have a modem installed internally, some people would benefit from carrying around a spare PC Card modem as well, especially if the modem has special features, such as the ability to handle international phone systems or voice calls. A PC Card modem is extremely light and often comes in handy if the laptop's internal modem ever stops working. WinmodemsMany modems are not really modems at all but simply enhanced connectors. These so-called "Winmodems" depend on Windows programs that instruct the laptop's CPU to do all the processing that the modem normally does. These modems have gotten better, partly because today's Pentium processors are so powerful that they can easily accommodate the relatively slight amount of work required by a 56Kbps modem. Winmodems are inexpensive, often less than half the cost of a real modem, but they are dependent on Windows. In general, a real modem still outperforms a Winmodem and also has the benefit of working under DOS, Linux, or any other non-Windows environment. Caution Some phone lines can be hazardous to the health of your modem. Many hotels and offices use digital PBXs for their telephone systems. These systems typically carry more current than standard analog phone lines. This power is needed to operate additional features on the telephone, such as message lights and LCD displays. Unfortunately, this additional current can permanently damage the tiny modems found in PC Cards or integrated onto the motherboard of your laptop. Visually, there is no way to tell whether a phone system is digital or analog, because they both use the same standard RJ-11 connectors. To avoid frying your laptop's internal modem, you can purchase a line-testing deviceusually called a Modem-Saverfor about $30 that plugs in to a wall jack and measures the amount of current on the circuit. It then informs you whether it is safe to plug in your modem. If the line is not safe, you may still use it with your laptop's modem, but only with certain protection. A company called Konexx (www.konexx.com) sells a device for about $130 that plugs in to the handset jack on a standard phone and protects your modem from any dangerous currents on a digital PBX system. Wireless ModemsThe traditional modem is indeed a handy tool, but its usefulness disappears as soon as you move more than about 10 feet away from a phone jack. A wireless networking adapter lengthens your communications leash to about 200 feet, but the number of wireless networks is still relatively small. All this effectively means that for most of the world's surface area, your laptop is incommunicadounless, of course, you have a wireless modem. There are basically three ways to connect a wireless modem to your laptop. The first is to use a cellular modem, usually in a PC Card format. As the name implies, these devices rely on the increasingly omnipresent cellular phone networks and can be used anywhere you can get cellular phone coverage. The second approach is to use your cell phone itself as a cellular modem. The third option is only for those who frequently travel outside the cellular phone coverage: using a satellite phone as a modem. Note that all wireless modems have traditionally suffered from a speed penalty. Until fairly recently, wireless modems typically operated at a speed of only about 14.4Kbps or less. In recent years the press began promoting so-called third-generation or 3G cellular technology. (The first cellular generation was analog and is usually referred to as AMPS, or Advanced Mobile Phone System. The second generation was digital and is based on one of several technologies, such as TDMA, CDMA, and GSM.) The new 3G technology promised high-speed data communications; in some cases the claims were as high as 2Mbps. More reasonable claims touted 384Kbps. In actual fact, the "3G" systems that have appeared to date are capable of a maximum data rate of only about 128Kbps or even just 56Kbps. Because of this, they are sometimes referred to as 2.5G systems. Although still slow by wired networking standards, 3G systems are still an order of magnitude better than previous wireless and WAN standards. Circuit-Switched Versus Packet-Switched ConnectionsMost wireless modems make connections in two ways. The first is circuit-switched mode, which is identical to the traditional dial-up connection on a wired modem. Here, the user dials a connection to a host system, communicates for a given amount of time, and then disconnects the call. The second is packet-switched mode. With this type of connection, the wireless modem is in effect always connected to the host system, in much the same way a home computer is always connected to the Internet via DSL or a cable modem. Data is sent back and forth in packets. Choosing which mode to use depends on what type of data will be transmitted and how the cellular phone company is charging for the service. Circuit-switched connections are usually charged on a per-minute rate. Packet-switched connections are usually charged by the megabyte of data transferred. If the cellular company charges a low fee for each voice call or if you tend to surf the Internet only for short, intensive batches, a circuit-switched connection is best. If, however, your cellular company charges you a low per-megabyte rate or if you tend to connect intermittently several times throughout the day, you should opt for a packet-switched connection. PC Card Wireless ModemsAs for most other laptop peripherals, the best form factor for wireless modems is the PCMCIA or PC Card. The advantage of a PC Card cellular modem is that it's a relatively simple system. There are no wires, external components, or dongles hanging off the laptop. The only visible sign of the modem is the PC Card's flexible antenna that sticks out the side of the laptop. Some PC Card cellular modems have an added advantage of being able to carry voice communications as well. With these modems, you could use the internal microphone and speaker of your laptop and have, in effect, a mobile speakerphone. For more private conversations, you could plug in a small headset that combines headphones and a microphone. Connecting a Modem to a Cell PhoneSome laptop modems can connect to a cell phone as well as to a standard phone line. This group includes both built-in modems as well as PC Card modems. Unfortunately, however, most modems are not cellular capable, in which case you must purchase a PC Card cellular-capable modem to use. 3Com and others make modems that work with most of the popular cell phones on the market using the traditional AMPS or GSM service. Most of these modems use the Microcom MNP10EC protocol, which is designed to handle the signal changes and handoffs common in cellular operation. Even with the cost of the cellular-capable modem and the cable between the modem and the cell phone, this is a very cost-effective approach because it involves only a single cell phone bill each month. Using a Cell Phone as a Wireless ModemMost modern cell phones have a built-in cellular modem. In many cases this built-in modem is used to enable the phone to access specially designed websites. As is the case with the previous approach, this is a cost-effective technique, enlisting your existing cell phone for double duty as both a phone and a modem. The only extra cost is a cable that connects your cell phone to your laptop's USB or serial connector. Originally, these cables were expensive, especially when supplied as an accessory from the manufacturer. However, third-party manufacturers have been offering low-cost cables as an alternative. These cables, by the way, can also be used for transferring phonebook and calendar information back and forth from your cell phone to your laptop. The great advantage of using a cell phone as your wireless modem is that you will be charged for only one monthly cellular bill. If you use a PC Card cellular modem along with a cell phone, you are charged a monthly bill for each. Note Note that not all cell phones can function as cellular modems. Before you buy your next phone, check whether this feature is supported. The disadvantage of using a cell phone as a modem is the awkward cable clutter involved with this approach. Your laptop will now have a cell phone attached to it, dangling at the end of a fragile and expensive cable like a miniature ball and chain. However, if your phone and notebook both feature support for the Bluetooth wireless standard discussed later in this chapter, this cable can be eliminated. Instead, your cell phone and laptop will communicate with each other via a wireless radio-frequency connection. Using a Satellite Phone as a Wireless ModemLaptop users who will be traveling outside cellular coverage can still keep in touch by using a satellite phone, such as those sold by GlobalStar. As is the case with cellular phones, some satellite phones can be connected to a laptop and then function as a satellite modem. All you need is the particular accessory cable for that phone to enable it to connect to a laptop's serial port. Note, however, that there's a price for this freedom. The maximum data rate for this type of connection is only 9.6Kbps. |