Home

How to become an ISP

Modems

There are two things you must decide:
  1. Number of modems
  2. Type of modems

MODEM is an acronym for MOdulate DEModulate, referring to the fact that binary digits are modulated into sound, transferred over the telephone circuits, and then demodulated back into binary digits on the other side. To be technically correct, only 56k and slower modems are truly modems. Other line types, such as ISDN, are digital to begin with, so there is no modulation happening. These products are properly called Terminal Adapters (or TA for short), but most folks still call them modems. For the sake of convenience, we will use modem to refer to all types of customer remote access equipment.

For small numbers of lines an 8-to-1 (8:1) ratio of subscribers to phone lines will allow your subscribers to get through without busy signals. As your ISP grows and the number of phone lines increases, you can increase the ratio to as high as 12:1 without busy signals. Plus, by having all of your phone lines in one city your phone bank will grow to exceed that of the national providers for your area. With more phone lines in one region, you can have the same (or higher) ratio and yet provide better service.


© 1999-2008 Angelo Babudro   ·   Updated Thu, 04 Aug 2005 05:40:28 -0400   ·   Solo Deo gloria.
 Home