Why are they called 56K?

[Hellmund]

Why do they call 56k modems 56k modems? I've never seen one actually run at 56k's.They tend to hover at 4-5k's depending on the connection.
Also could someone give an approximate speed on broadband.The pay T.V provider is offering something called chello which is broadband in the area and was wondering just how fast in figures it is?
Thanks for any assist.
Hellmund

[grunt]

56K modems can supposedly CONNECT at 56K. Current FCC regulations limit connection speeds to 53K. There are several reasons why you can't downlaod aver about 10kps. You can read all about it here http://808hi.com/56k/index.htm

[Roy]

There's a difference between kilobits/second and KiloBytes/second. A Byte is 8 bits. With data compression, speeds in excess of 56kb/s are common with "good connects" (>40k) and low server traffic.

[Hellmund]

I never noticed it said Kilo-BITS,I thought it said kilobytes.Thanks for clearing that up
Hellmund

[flash4master]

they arent limited to connect at 56K, they are just limited to d/l at 53K

[jpeppers]

That's what makes me kind of angry, you have a 56k modem, but you connect anywhere from 26400 tp 50600 (well I use to) and your download speeds are real crappy. That's why I went to cable because analog modems are getting slower and slower.