Faster relay
Four US manufacturers (Lucent Technologies, Motorola, Rockwell and US Robotics) will soon launch modems and related devices that can receive data at 56 kbps (thousand bits per second) and send at 33.6 kbps. This will noticeably improve the speed with which users can receive large amounts of data. The new 56 kbps technology presumes the entire network to be digital, but with an analogue impairment at the far end of the connection. For this to work, both ends of the connection must upgrade their equipment: service providers must have digital lines as well as 56 kbps devices, and con sumers must upgrade their modems.