With this amazing speed back in 1969 (at the time called the Arpanet), built by the US Department of Defence, the goal was to have error-correcting control codes built in to every packet of data sent, with automatic resend options automatically applied.
Go to actual Modem Speeds including Cable Modems. The bottleneck on the Internet was (and most of the time still is) at your local router, or on your smartphone.
Wikipedia (Singapore), Google (Sydney), Harvard (USA)
1. Look up Wikipedia (Singapore) tracert en.wikipedia.org IP Address [103.102.166.224] over a maximum of 30 hops: linking first to my home router [192.168.0.1] then to Optus Brisbane [49.177.208.1] who include in the packet a unique temporary 16 bit source Port integer identifying my home. The packet is forwarded through Sydney, then Singapore, initially via Optus's HFC carrier network, Optus's gateway routers, and ultimately Singapore Government Telecommunications (Singtel, owner of Optus) where it (i.e. one of Wikipedias sites) is hosted [103.102.166.224]. 1 3 ms 2 ms 2 ms mygateway.home [192.168.0.1] 2 12 ms 12 ms 12 ms n49-177-208-1.rdl1.qld.optusnet.com.au [49.177.208.1] 3 * * * Request timed out. 4 * * * Request timed out. 5 * * * Request timed out. 6 27 ms 27 ms 36 ms bla1-hu0-4-0.ig.optusnet.com.au [211.29.126.222] 7 * * * Request timed out. 8 * * * Request timed out. 9 35 ms 24 ms 25 ms mas2-hu0-4-0.ig.optusnet.com.au [198.142.249.250] 10 119 ms 118 ms 154 ms 203.208.148.185 (Singapore) 11 122 ms 121 ms 156 ms 203.208.158.206 12 124 ms 123 ms 122 ms 203.208.151.50 13 152 ms 121 ms 123 ms xe-0-1-4.cr3-eqsin.wikimedia.org [103.102.166.144] 14 124 ms 121 ms 123 ms text-lb.eqsin.wikimedia.org [103.102.166.224] Trace complete. 2. Lookup Google (Sydney) tracert www.google.com (Sydney) Tracing route to www.google.com [142.251.221.68] over a maximum of 30 hops: 1 2 ms 9 ms 2 ms mygateway.home [192.168.0.1] 2 14 ms 12 ms 11 ms n49-177-208-1.rdl1.qld.optusnet.com.au [49.177.208.1] 3 * * * Request timed out. 4 * * * Request timed out. 5 * * * Request timed out. 6 * * * Request timed out. 7 35 ms 29 ms 29 ms hu0-7-0-0.22rrpr01.optus.net.au [59.154.18.214] 8 32 ms 28 ms 28 ms 74.125.147.174 9 29 ms 27 ms 32 ms 192.178.97.225 10 27 ms 26 ms 31 ms 142.251.252.205 11 27 ms 28 ms 27 ms syd09s31-in-f4.1e100.net [142.251.221.68] Trace complete. 3. Lookup Harvard (USA) tracert www.harvard.com (Manassas in Virginia, USA) Tracing route to harvard.com [64.64.9.47] over a maximum of 30 hops: Linking through Tata Communications, a major international telecommunications network based in India 1 2 ms 5 ms 2 ms mygateway.home [192.168.0.1] 2 11 ms 11 ms 11 ms n49-177-208-1.rdl1.qld.optusnet.com.au [49.177.208.1] 3 * * * Request timed out. 4 * * * Request timed out. 5 * * * Request timed out. 6 25 ms 25 ms 25 ms bla1-hu0-4-0.ig.optusnet.com.au [211.29.126.222] 7 193 ms 180 ms 177 ms 203.208.177.125 (Singapore Tele California) 8 191 ms 192 ms 214 ms 63.243.188.4 (TATA COMMUNICATIONS, San Jose, California) 9 256 ms 254 ms 255 ms if-be-77-2.ecore1.epao1-paloalto.as6453.net [216.6.16.6] 10 * * 255 ms if-ae-11-2.tcore2.sv1-santaclara.as6453.net [66.198.127.27] 11 254 ms * 256 ms if-ae-0-2.tcore1.sv1-santaclara.as6453.net [63.243.251.1] 12 * 252 ms * if-ae-8-3.tcore1.lvw-losangeles.as6453.net [63.243.250.59] 13 * 258 ms * if-ae-2-2.tcore2.lvw-losangeles.as6453.net [66.110.59.2] 14 253 ms 252 ms 252 ms if-bundle-34-2.qcore2.lvw-losangeles.as6453.net [207.45.219.128] 15 251 ms 251 ms 252 ms if-bundle-26-2.qcore2.aeq-ashburn.as6453.net [207.45.219.137] 16 254 ms 253 ms 255 ms if-bundle-2-2.qcore1.aeq-ashburn.as6453.net [216.6.87.8] 17 247 ms 249 ms 248 ms 66.198.155.169 (TATA) 18 250 ms 250 ms 251 ms po-2.ce03.wdc-02.us.leaseweb.net [173.208.126.15] 19 247 ms 252 ms 248 ms srv3.harvard.com [64.64.9.47] 4. Lookup Google (Sydney) via Optus Smartphone traceroute to www.google.com.au (142.250.67.3) , 5 relative hops max, 52 byte packets Linking through three internal router IP addresses note IP addresses 192.168.xxx, 10.xxx, 172.xxx are conventionally private IP addresses not used for "public" IP routing. Used a lot by VPNs 1 10.111.29.189 (10.111.29.189) 26.208 ms 55.461 ms 56.846 ms 2 172.24.126.147 (172.24.126.147) 26.552 ms 60.973 ms 64.066 ms 3 10.194.120.209 (10.194.120.209) 20.997 ms 51.821 ms 54.525 ms 4 * * * 5 * * * 6 * * * 7 124.19.61.226 (124.19.61.226) 70.187 ms 113.437 ms 116.230 ms 8 72.14.219.128 (72.14.219.128) 71.688 ms 113.394 ms 116.038 ms 9 192.178.97.87 (192.178.97.87) 73.774 ms 155.368 ms 158.033 ms 10 142.250.224.185 (142.250.224.185) 42.451 ms 235.351 ms 238.231 ms 11 syd15s16-in-f3.1e100.net (142.250.67.3) 72.290 ms 235.575 ms 238.878 ms Sent from my iPhone 5. Lookup Google (Sydney) via Smartphone and WiFi traceroute to www.google.com.au (142.250.204.3) , 5 relative hops max, 52 byte packets 1 mygateway.home (192.168.0.1) 4.316 ms 19.731 ms 22.259 ms 2 n49-177-208-1.rdl1.qld.optusnet.com.au (49.177.208.1) 12.645 ms 36.477 ms 37.984 ms 3 * * * 4 * * * 5 hu0-4-1-0.22rrpr01.optus.net.au (124.19.61.118) 32.832 ms 60.779 ms 64.039 ms 6 74.125.147.174 (74.125.147.174) 25.267 ms 44.514 ms 46.376 ms 7 192.178.97.155 (192.178.97.155) 27.837 ms 43.517 ms 45.357 ms 8 142.251.64.177 (142.251.64.177) 23.602 ms 265.959 ms 268.013 ms 9 syd09s25-in-f3.1e100.net (142.250.204.3) 28.129 ms 49.644 ms 52.050 ms Sent from my iPhone
In 1962, the first commercial modem was manufactured – the Bell 103 by AT&T that had a speed of 300 bits per second (at 70% the speed of light).
In the 1980s, typical modem speeds progressed through 1200, 2400, 4800 and 9600 bps, and 14.4 kilobits per second by 1991.
In 1994, it doubled to 28.8 kilobits per second, then 33.6kbps, thought to be an upper limit for phone line transmissions.
But in 1996 the 56k modem invented by Brent Townshend, a new set of standards.
Cable Modem Speeds
In 1997 Telstra launched the Motorola cable modem that used the Hybrid Fibre-optic Copper cable (HFC) on their residential TV network.
Always online, at 10 Mbps download, 768 Kbps upload. Technically it was capable of 30 Mbps, but the Ethernet cable attaching it to the PC in 1997 restricted it to 10.
However maximum downloads per month were only 100 megabytes, then 35 cents per megabyte in excess fees. At $595 to firstly have to buy the modem, then pay an installation fee, then be subject to possibly thousands of dollars in fees if you uncaringly downloaded 4 gigabytes or more in movies in one month made the launch pretty much a no-no for most people.
In 2000, Optus launched a no-charge modem the Nortel CM100, similar stats but unlimited downloads, no excess charges. Note, Southern Cross Pacific Cable connecting Sydney to US was completed that year. Telstra matched Optus offer in 2001.
ADSL Modem Speeds
An online phone line alternative was 1500 Kbps download, 256 Kbps upload.
NBN Cable
Click here for the roll-out details.
Click here for Foxtel, Fetch and Internet streaming.
In 2024, HFC cable ca 40 Mbps download, 18 Mbps upload.
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