Article
Article
Modem
Article By:
Held, Gilbert 4-Degree Consulting, Macon, Georgia.
Last reviewed:January 2020
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.429050
A device that converts the digital signals produced by terminals and computers into the analog signals that telephone circuits are designed to carry. Despite the availability of several all-digital transmission networks, the analog telephone network remains the most readily available facility for voice and data transmission. Since terminals and computers transmit data using digital signaling, whereas telephone circuits are designed to transmit analog signals used to convey human speech, a device is required to convert from one to the other in order to transmit data over telephone circuits. The term modem is a contraction of the two main functions of such a unit, modulation and demodulation. The device is also called a data set. See also: Integrated services digital network (ISDN); Modulation
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