3Com 56k User's Manual And Reference page 37

asynchronous transmission
Data transmission in which the length of time
between transmitted characters may vary. Since
the time lapses between transmitted characters are
not uniform, the receiving modem must be
signaled as to when the data bits of a character
begin and then they end. The addition of start/stop
bits to each character serves this purpose.
auto answer
In this setting the modem can pick up the phone
line when it detects a certain number of rings. See
S-register S0 in the "Technical Reference" section.
autodial
A process where your modem dials a call for you.
The dialling process is initiated by sending an
ATDT (dial tone) or ATDP (dial pulse) command
followed by the telephone number to dial. Autodial
is used to dial voice numbers. See command Dn.
baud rate
A term used to measure the speed of an analogue
transmission from one point to another. Although
Glossary
not technically accurate, baud rate is commonly
used to mean bit rate.
binary digit
A 0 or 1, which reflects the use of the binary
numbering system. It is used because the computer
recognizes either of two states, OFF or ON. The
shortened form of binary digit is bit.
bit rate
This refers to the number of binary digits, or bits,
transmitted per second (bps). It is also referred to
as transmission rate. Communications channels
using telephone channel modems are established at
set bit rates, commonly 2400, 4800, 9600, 14,400,
28,800 and higher.
bits per second (bps)
This is the bits (binary digits) per second rate.
Thousands of bits per second are expressed as
kilobits per second or kbps.
33