From:	ANGLISS BRIAN EDWARD <angliss@****.COLORADO.EDU>
Subject:	Re: A few more things...
Date:	Tue, 17 Oct 1995 09:36:37 -0600

On Tue, 17 Oct 1995, Evan Hughes wrote:


> I had the impression that Matrix connects were very high bulk, and
> for that reason couldn't be used over standard phone lines: thats why
> we don't have cell-decks.

I have the impression that Matrix connections are really high bulk as
well. However, standard phone lines today are not going to be standard
phone lines of 2054. Everything is done optically, according to FASA,
with the exception of cell phones and radios. What this means is that
the coax and twisted pair wires we use now have been replaced with
optical fiber. Look at modern modems. We have, what, 28.8kbaud today,
for use over standard twisted pair? Using modems and coax is just plain
strange, but we get, converting, theoretical bandwidth limits of tens to
couple hundred MHz. The bandwidth problem is the same with radio
frequency communication: All you have is about, at best 10% of the
carrier freqency with which to modulate your signal on. So even if you
are using microwave freqencies, you only get about a maximum bandwidth of
maybe 10GHz. With optical fiber, and assuming that you can get at best a
signal bandwidth of 1% of the signal frequency(a worst case option
considering some of the more intersting technologies in development
today), that still gives you about 1 THz, or about 10^12 Hz in
bandwidth. This is about a factor of 10000 greater than cellular. If
you have fiber to the home(which I personally figure will be normal
except in remote cases in much less than the 60 years till 2056), then
phone lines will be more than capable of carrying the load. And that's
with modern technology, never mind higher frequency laser LEDs(current
fiber uses the Infrared range, and we're getting the first developed blue
light laser diodes today), soliton fibers, etc. But I'm getting into the
esoterics of my field, which is telecommunications engineering, so I'll
be quiet now.... **grimace**

> Is the matrix just a continuation of the "Internet" or is it an
> actual corporate entity?
>

It seems to be a continuation of the Internet, but the connections that
tie the Internet together are provided by local telephone companies. All
the corporations and universities do is providing the computers. Sure,
the Internet wouldn't exist with them, but neither would it exist without
the high bandwidth T3 lines between them.

Brian