Dreamcast modem

[fallenangle]

PAL DCs came with a 33.6kb/s modem and when I asked on Dreamarena years ago I was told there was no point importing a US 56kb/s modem because PAL DCs (at least with PAL games and DK3) were 'fixed' to run at no more than 33.6kb/s anyway.

Some time later I bought a job lot of DC accessories from the US which included two 56kb/s modems. I tried them online using DK3 and the connection speed I was getting, according to the test site I used, was no different from the standard modem.

However just today I came across a thread on another UK forum only posted about a year ago where the guy said that he had found an improvement when using the 56kb/s modem. He didn't say he was getting more speed just that when going onto US servers (presumably to play the few online DC games still available) he was getting a smoother experience with less disconnections.

Does anybody here know anything about this or indeed whether I was informed correctly about PAL DC/games online being fixed at 33.6kb/s?

Just interested really.

[sj33]

I think it was Dreamarena itself that capped connection to 33.6k. It was certainly nothing to do with the hardware (other than the modem itself).

[fallenangle]

So does that mean if I used one of my 56kb/s now I'd get a speed gain? After Dreamarena closed when you go online with the DC with DK3 it seems to use Sega (EU) as a portal so I assumed nothing would have changed. I never thought to try it again with the 56kb/s modem.

On a side note: for many years even though the portal worked/works the actual Sega EU site wasn't accessable using DK3. A couple of weeks ago after a long absence I went online with it and found it now is. Go figure.

[Link83]

I seem to remember reading somewhere that all online Dreamcast games (no matter if they were PAL or NTSC) were progammed to use a very small amount of data for online play so that there would not be a huge/noticeable difference between users on 33.6k and 56k modems, however I imagine the 56k modem would still help with lag etc.

I dont know if the game speeds were set differently for each region, although I cant see why they would be...

Dont know if that helps at all, sorry.

(EDIT) Did a little research and it seems that unless you have a 'digital phone line' then you will not get any extra speed from a 56k modem as the maximum speed you can obtain on an 'analogue phone line' is 33.6k, so a 56k modem will default to 33.6k regardless - perhaps this is what you experienced when testing the 56k modem?

I wonder if this is why Sega choose to only use 33.6k modems in Europe as 'digital phones lines' were not widely available? Does anybody know if BT even has 'digital phone lines' now?

To quote the FAQ I found:-
"DREAMCAST INTERNET INFO

Your on-line service needs to offer the following in order to work with your Dreamcast Internet software:

1. PPP (Point to Point Protocol)
2. PAP (Password Authentication Protocol)

And will need to offer the following if you want the fastest modem connection speed possible (i.e. 56K):

1. Digital dialup site
2. v.90 56K protocol support (from what I understand, the Dreamcast modem is not compatible with the X2 or KFlex 56K protocols).

Without v.90 protocol support, you'll connect at a maximum speed of 33.6K (or whatever maximum speed is supported by your ISP). Without a digital dialup, your ISP can't offer 56K."

From here:-

http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/dreamcast/file/916412/2671

Also more about 56k speeds here:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/56k#Speed

Sorry if you already knew all this, I didnt!

[fallenangle]

Interesting; thanks - that explanation sounds far more likely than any other ie. prehistoric 'phone system.

I thought I'd trawled most of the relevant Gamefaqs' DC hardware FAQS yesterday but I must have missed that information so thanks for that link too.

[belmondo]

I wonder if this is why Sega choose to only use 33.6k modems in Europe as 'digital phones lines' were not widely available? Does anybody know if BT even has 'digital phone lines' now?

BT (and every other UK business carrier) certainly does have digital phone lines - the standard is ISDN and has been around for years.

What that article is saying is that if you call from one analogue modem to another you won't be able to achieve a 56k connection. I don't know much about the state of ISPs 10 years ago, but I find it hard to believe that they were using banks of analogue modems for incoming connections. It is much more likely that they had ISDN PRI trunks (each can handle 30 simultaneous calls), so 56k connections should be possible.

[fallenangle]

What you're saying then is that rather than the digital dialup issue being the problem it must be that the particular 56k modem the Dreamcast uses not supporting the right protocols that caused the speed limit?

I'm confused then because the US DC came with the 56k as standard which would be pretty pointless if it didn't give up to 56k using the US 'phone system as it was circa 2000. Was/is there something about the US 'phone system that allowed/allows them to get up to 56k using the DC modem which we (UK) didn't/don't have?

[Link83]

hmm, so we do have digital phone lines, but I wonder if the UK (or much of Europe) had them back in 1998/1999 when Sega must have made the decision regarding which model modem to use?

I also found this article which explains the 56k modem requirements alittle better:-

http://www.56k.com/cons/digital.shtml

For reference, the Dreamcast Modem uses a chip produced by Rockwell/Conexant which is labelled:-

RP336LD for the 33.6k modems
and
RP56LD for the 56k modems

You can see the pdf datasheet for these chips here:-

http://www.datasheetarchive.com/pdf-datasheets/Datasheets-8/DSA-140028.pdf

(Direct link to the pdf so you need to click 'open' or 'save')
It says the RP56LD supports V.90 and K56flex protocols if thats any help.

Slightly OT but I have been wondering for a long time if theres an easy way to get the Dreamcast modem back online over a broadband connection using a PC with Windows XP? I have seen this guide here:-

http://dreamcast.onlineconsoles.com/phpBB2/guides_pcdcwin98.php

but it requires Windows 98. Surely there must be a company that produces something to allow older dialup only devices to use a broadband connection?

[sj33]

That above trick was quite popular back in the day, though I was never able to do it.

[belmondo]

Slightly OT but I have been wondering for a long time if theres an easy way to get the Dreamcast modem back online over a broadband connection using a PC with Windows XP? I have seen this guide here:-

http://dreamcast.onlineconsoles.com/phpBB2/guides_pcdcwin98.php

but it requires Windows 98. Surely there must be a company that produces something to allow older dialup only devices to use a broadband connection?

This link should help:

http://www.zdnetasia.com/insight/network/0,39044847,39050037-39000223c-1,00.htm

It talks about setting up XP as a VPN server, which is a very similar configuration to what you need to connect your DC. Follow the steps in the article (selecting your modem as the device for incoming connections), but select 'do not allow' for VPN connections (this shouldn't be required for the DC). Whichever user you give permission to connect, that is the user name and password you will enter on the DC.

As well as those steps you need to enable Internet connection sharing on whatever interface your broadband is connected to.

I have no way of testing this, but I think it should be ok

EDIT: You will also need to follow steps 1 & 2 in the article you linked to connect the DC to the PC.

[belmondo]

hmm, so we do have digital phone lines, but I wonder if the UK (or much of Europe) had them back in 1998/1999 when Sega must have made the decision regarding which model modem to use?

I also found this article which explains the 56k modem requirements alittle better:-

http://www.56k.com/cons/digital.shtml

Like I said, it don't know for sure about ISPs, but ISDN was widely used in UK business at that time. I imagine the reason for Sega choosing the 33k modem was simply to keep costs down.

That article seems to be written from a US perspective, digital lines are less common there.

[Link83]

Thanks for the link belmondo, it looks interesting Any idea if it should still work with an external USB Modem?

Also, Im not sure if the comments below the guide are correct but somebody said:-
"Your instructions are very thorough ... but, I suspect you run WinXP SP1. At the moment, the VPN Server capability in SP2 is incapable of accepting incoming connections."
Is this correct? I only ask as I use SP2

Sorry for taking this thread off topic.

[belmondo]

Thanks for the link belmondo, it looks interesting Any idea if it should still work with an external USB Modem?

Also, Im not sure if the comments below the guide are correct but somebody said:-
"Your instructions are very thorough ... but, I suspect you run WinXP SP1. At the moment, the VPN Server capability in SP2 is incapable of accepting incoming connections."
Is this correct? I only ask as I use SP2

Sorry for taking this thread off topic.

Should work with any modem.

As long as you set the VPN setting to 'do not allow' then you won't be using the VPN server, so whether it works or not shouldn't be relevant.