What is the difference between dialup modem and a Broadband modem?

KeepItSimpleStupid

A dial-up modem ties up the telephone line and restricts the download speeds to 56 kb/s or 56 killobits/second
.
FAX modems also support the FAX protocols and are usually standard with dial-up modems.

A broadband modem usually refers to a cable or DSL modem where high speeds are attainable. A mid-range download speed is about 3 mb/s or 3 million bits/s. Speeds are many times assymetric meaning the max upload speed is much smaller than the download speed.

ScottGem

Striclty speaking a broadband modem is not really a modem. A dialup modem uses regular phone lines and MOdulates/DEMODulates the analog signal into a digital signal. Due to physical limitations the speed of a dialup is capped at 53 kbps.

A broadband "modem" is actually a router which connects to a cable, DSL or fiberoptic network using Ethernet protocols.

KeepItSimpleStupid

I would tend to disagree. This provides some insight for the disagreement:

http://www2.electronicproducts.com/A...2005-html.aspx

An ADSL modem usually provides the physical layer and the network layer, however, much like their 56K counterparts they sometimes provide a serial interface via USB and the PC provides the network interface.

We can agree that the definitions of a modem, router, switch, hub are all starting to blurr when they are combined together. The consumer version of the "router" is virtually stupid.

The broadband modem still requires some sort of modulation and demodulation techniques to transmit the digital signal in analog form. The simplest of the original modems used 4 tones. 2 each for mark and space in either direction.

KeepItSimpleStupid

Now I'm going to back up my claim even more:

Modem - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And I quote from the above source:


I have a "dial-up modem" that's a router, WIFI, DHCP and NAT. It's called the Apple Airport. The dial-up port can and is disabled and the WAN port is connected to a DSL modem in bridge mode.

As I said, functions quickly blur.

You might really want to call the analog modem it a "media converter/analog modem" because in on one hand it's converting the media from a serial port to cable to telephone metalic pairs media and it may have USB/serial or 10 baseT ports just like there were 10baseT to fiber converters or 10baseT to Thinnet. It's also a traditional analog modem as well. DSL does not REQUIRE a dial tone line (POTS service) to operate.

Then there are cellular modems. They are basically an analog/FAX modem combined with a broadband modem. They might be bluetooth or USB on the input side and RF on the output side.

ScottGem

Frankly, I think those definitions are simply attempts by the industry to justify the misnaming of these broadband devices. Consumers were used to connecting to the Internet through a modem. So as not to confuse consumers who knew nothing about networking when they switched to broadband, the device continued to be referred to as a modem. Now as consumers are gettng more sophisticated and knowledgeable about networking they are trying to backtrack to justify the misnaming.

But I'm obviously fighting (half heartedly) a losing battle against this so I'll shut up now.

KeepItSimpleStupid

I can think of another are that's just as bad: The telephone

Back in the old days the operator did the connections via phone plugs and she wore a headset. People had telephones with the separate mouthpiece and earpiece and no dial.

Then came the dial on the phone. The handset, the headset, the wireless headset in no particular order. Now the wireless phone, the call phone, the bag phone and the cell phone.

Now we have the wireless headset attached to the computer, the keyboard being the computer and the connection by VOIP. Is this a "telephone"?

Now we connect our cordless phones to our skype or VOIP gateway, but we can't use a 56K modem under these conditions. Is this a "telephone"?

They lump this into VOIP and POTS services.

For business you have Digital phones, IP phones, PBX systems, Muti-line phones all connected via (T1, T3, Sonet, etc or POTS) and others.

What then are the devices connected to the "Gateway" to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PTSN), a phone?

Is a computer and a headset a phone?

I give up too. Do we go back and define everything in terms of the 7-layer network model?