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`Getting connected: a history of modems
`By Tamsin Oxford December 26, 2009 Internet
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`Their arrival heralded a new age of communications and they played a major role in the
`explosion of the internet. We're talking, of course, about modems. Here we look back on the
`development of this remarkable device.
`
`When the US Air Force needed a convenient way of transmitting hundreds of radar images to
`command centres during the Cold War in the late 1940s they turned to the telephone system as
`a solution.
`
`Fortunately modems, already in action in Teletype since the 1920s, were the perfect tool for
`taking the digital radar images and converting them into analogue transmissions and then back
`again so that they could be sent across the network of telephone systems already in place.
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`FIRST MODEM: AT&T's 1958 modem. Not exactly your small, white unobtrusive box of today, is
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`[Image credit: AT&T]
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`The modulator-demodulator, aka the modem, was enhanced by Bell Laboratories to improve
`upon the Teletype speed of approximately 150 bits per second (bps).
`
`It was in 1962 that the first commercial modem, the Bell 103, was released by AT&T. Including
`full-duplex transmission, frequency-shift keying (FSK) and a speed of 300 bps (baud). These
`modems were designed to hold a telephone's receiver in a cradle with wire connections running
`from the cradle to the computer.
`
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`BIT BY BIT: The Bell 103 modem that ran at 300 bits per second [Image credit:
`www.velocityguide.com]
`
`To grab a bit of perspective on the actual speed of these modems, consider that a letter consists
`of eight bits. A speed of 300 bits meant that this modem could only send out around 30 letters a
`second.
`
`It was also in the 1960s that Paul Taylor, building upon the work of James C Marsters and Robert
`Weitbrecht, developed the world's first telecommunications device for the deaf using an acoustic
`modem.
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`CONNECTED: The Miniprint 425 TDD telecommunications device for the deaf
`
`The spread of bulletin board systems (BBS) meant that users were soon demanding greater
`speeds to transfer larger files and images and market demand led to the development of the
`V.22 or Bell 212 modem at 1200 baud.
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`Getting connected: a history of modems | TechRadar
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`http://www.techradar.com/us/news/internet/getting-connected-a-history-of-modems-657479/1
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`ONLINE: Using a 1200 baud modem to access the BBS at one of Canada's largest universities
`[Image credit: dblackadder]
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`This modem delivered more characters and introduced a very simple data compression that
`worked well with text but didn't have great results with images.
`
`Running along in the background was also some hefty legal action and competition as AT&T
`initially prevented customers from connecting devices from other companies to their telephone
`lines.
`
`However, thanks to Tom Carter the Carterfone Decision of 1968 soon saw this unfair advantage
`taken away from AT&T.
`
`"While we could visualize what should be possible and how it could change the shape of the
`communications industry, our first thought, however, was for self preservation... I approached a
`number of communications equipment manufacturers for financial support, but they were all
`afraid of jeopardizing current or potential Bell contracts," said Tom.
`
`After he won the case the market was suddenly left wide open with companies like General
`Electric entering the field with glee.
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`Getting connected: a history of modems | TechRadar
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