What is a Modem and how does it work ?

General Disclaimer - Happy Online would like to remind all visitors that they are responsible for their own computer settings - some suggestions may not work on some computers and may result in errors - you should only make changes to your computer if you are comfortable with any consequences that may arise.

A modem is an essential piece of hardware to enable user to connect to the internet by normal telephone lines - it enables the users computer to send and receive information through their telephone line.

Computer data is stored in digital format while telephone wires transmit data in Analog format - a Modem transforms Digital Data to Analog data to enable the data to be sent through the telephone wire and Angalog data back to Digital data when received through the telephone wire.

Modems come in different speeds and the faster the modem the faster information will be processed - however the speed of the internet connection is limited to the telephone connection and your Internet Service Providers connections and therefore simply buying a new faster Modem does not always mean your download speeds will be improved.

Most new computers have an internal modem already provided with a speed of 56Kbps. 56kbps stand for 56,000 Bits Per Second which is a measurment of how fast data can be transferred through the modem.

In practice this rate of transfer is not achieved. If you are logged onto the Internet through a Modem at the moment and you double click on your connection icon (normally two computers - possibly with a wire connecting them) on your Taskbar a window will appear that should display your current rate of connection.

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