V.90

(protocol)An ITU-T standard modem serial lineprotocol allowing download speeds of up to 56 kbps withupload speeds of 33.6 kbps. V.90 modems are designed forconnections that are digital at one end and have only onedigital-to-analogue conversion.

As of 1998-02-06 the V.90 standard, formerly called V.pcm, hasbeen given final approval by ITU-T. On 1998-10-27 the ITU-Tannounced that approval of the V.90 standard was completed.Interoperability testing is complete or in progress forseveral modem manufacturers. The V.90 standard reconciles twocompeting standards, X2 and K56flex.

The ITU-T has initiated the approval process for a newall-digital version of the protocol, to be known as V.91.

ITU Press Release 98-04.and NP-3.

V.90

An ITU standard (1998) for an analog modem that communicates at 56 Kbps downstream and 33.6 Kbps upstream. It was designed for ISPs and online services that are digitally attached to the telephone system via T1 and T3 circuits.

In practice, the downstream link is not faster than 45 Kbps in these PCM modems, so called because they use pulse code modulation downstream and standard V.34 upstream. Initially, two incompatible technologies competed in this arena: x2 from U.S. Robotics and K56Flex from Rockwell and Lucent. Such modems can be upgraded to V.90 if they contain software-upgradable memory chips. See V.92, V.34 and channel bonding.