The novelty had already been announced earlier this year but from July 2023 TIM effectively terminated the dial-up service. This is the connection service to the Internet which was also mainly used in Europe before the transition to ADSL connections. THE modem 56K they were devices that made it possible to establish Internet connections via traditional telephone lines.
A word about 56K modems and analog connections
56K modems could achieve one full speed of data transmission equal to 56 kbps: for the time it was still an improvement compared to the models of modem dial-up older ones that operated at speeds of 14.4 kbps, 28.8 kbps, or 33.6 kbps. However, it was difficult to reach them performance best because actual speeds varied widely depending on phone line conditions and signal quality.
Readers with some white hair will certainly remember the pioneering connections with the software Trumpet Winsock in Windows 3.x. The application allowed data to be transferred using the TCP/IP protocol suite. Or the connections established with the various BBS (Bulletin Board System) available years ago.
With 56K modems and in general with i analog modems lower class, the highest transmission speed was available only in download, while in upload the available network bandwidth was almost insignificant. Connections, as mentioned, were subject to interference and they were often unstable. Not to mention the latency that he frequently splashed to unsustainable values.
56K modem and predecessors replaced by digital connections
Already the linee ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) represented a step forward from traditional dial-up connections. They supplied transfer speed of 64 kbps; by combining two transmission channels it was possible to reach up to 128 kbps. With ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) it was possible to really start talking about broadband by putting the limits of analogue connections behind us.
Both ISDN and ADSL use digital signals, which are less prone to interference and noise than analog signals. However, 56K modems and predecessors must modular e demodulare the signals: this is where the name “modem” comes from.
And modem is a device that modulates (transforms) a digital signal into an analog signal for transmission over a communication line, and demodulates (transforms) a received analog signal into a digital signal that the computer or terminal device understands. In the age of analog modems, sequences of bits were suitably recoded as electrical signals. With modern connections xDSLthe signal is always digital both towards the user and towards the provider.
The handshake phase in analog connections
In this nice YouTube video is graphically represented thespectral analysis of the handshake phase of an old 56K modem. There handshake stage of an analog modem is the initial moment of the dial-up connection in which the modules involved in the “conversation” exchange information to negotiate the transmission speed and establish the connection.
After the initialization phase, the modules exchange a series of tones for negotiate speed of optimal transmission. These tones can include acknowledgment tones, speed request tones, and response tones. Then there is the detection of capabilities of the remote modemthe phase in which the best possible speed and the actual connection are established.
The analog modem let the progress of the handshake be listened to through the built-in speaker and then continue with the modulation and demodulation operations without however sending any sound messages.
Goodbye to dial-up service
As of July 1, 2023, TIM officially announced its retirement from dial-up service with “narrowband” analog modem. Service “it can no longer be provided and, therefore, is automatically terminated“, notes the company.
The divestment of the technological platform of the dial-up service, specifies TIM, is part of the more general plan of technological innovation of the fixed network. It is aimed at allowing the progressive replacement of traditional platforms, now obsolete and increasingly difficult to maintain, with new generation ones.