How does V.90 technology work?
It has long been thought that the theoretical limit on modem speed over an ordinary phone line was 33.6 Kbps. V.90 modems achieve their speed by avoiding a conversion from digital to analog lines in the connection between user and service provider. Ordinary connections begin over an analog line, are converted to digital by the phone company and are converted back to analog in the final segment before arriving at the service provider. 56K connections begin analog, are converted to digital and are not converted back to analog at the service provider. This requires the service provider to have a direct digital connection and therefore avoids one conversion of the signal. By avoiding this second conversion, speeds of up to 56K and faster are possible. Therefore, modem users need to know that they can only achieve 56K if their service provider supports it. V.90 modems download at speeds up to 56 Kbps, but can upload at only 33.6 Kbps.
