We support V.90 at all sites

As V.90 information becomes available, we post it on a separate V.90 page.

The rest of this page is general 56k dialup information.

56k dialup speeds up your Internet access without requiring you change your telephone service. You just use a new and faster kind of modem with your normal telephone service.

ISDN dialup greatly improves your Internet access by improving the type of telephone service you use. It requires that you have ISDN digital telephone service from your telephone company.

You can use 56k without special phone service, but your Internet service provider needs digital phone service.  Often the digital phone service the provider uses is ISDN phone service, and this is why there's some confusion about 56k dialup and ISDN.

A provider also can use a lower grade digital phone service to offer 56k dialup, with some sacrifice in connect rates.  We use this option only where ISDN is not available.

A provider using ISDN for the digital phone service for 56k dialup can offer both 56k dialup and ISDN dialup with the same access number. This is another reason ISDN and 56k dialup are often confused.

56k can work over many normal phone lines, but it cannot work on some of them. See our page on why some calls can't connect at 56k.

Typical speeds are in the mid-40's, although we do see a fair amount of use at speed above 50k.  Only the direction from provider to user is "56k". This is the important direction for downloading, browsing, etc.

The upstream direction is still limited to 33.6k.  However, upstream speeds in the mid 40's have been demonstrated but not with any "56k" protocol now on the market.

Agreement on a proposal for a 56k standard called V.90 was reached in February, 1998.  The standard was formally ratified in September.

 V.90 is an amalgam of two 56k dialup technologies that preceded it, K56Flex and X2. These technologies do not work together, neither works with V.90), and they were at the center of a struggle for market dominance.

Also in the works is an all-digital standard V.91.  This will allow users with digital phone lines, such as those at corporate installations with PBXs, to use "56k" dialup in both directions.

Rather than investing in competing pre-standard technologies, we felt our money would be better spent on offering 56k throughout our network.  We initially offeredK56Flex and by the time V.90 was ratified we had it everywhere on our network.  The manufacturer of the equipment we use is active in the V.91 definition process, and we will be able to offer it when the time comes.  (This has little relevance to the majority of users, however.)

• NetHeaven Dialup
• NetHeaven V.90
• NetHeaven Access Numbers
• K56Flex tips and hints

Recent modems, especially the 56k modems, are upgradeable to V.90 without exchanging any hardware. Upgrades are downloadable from manufacturers' websites. This is true for major modem brands; you should make sure it's true for any modem you're considering.