Nitpick - Baud rate refers to the number of symbols sent by the modem per second, you can't send more than 8000 symbols per second through an analog phone line, as they are sampled at 8 Khz. You can sent multiple bits per symbol, which all modems did. By utilizing a direct digital connection to the phone network, an ISP could send up to 53 kbits/second using all 8 bits of each sample, minus a few for transitions that weren't allowed because of cross talk with other phone lines.
Thus, the fastest modems were 8000 baud.
PS: Yes, it was amazing to see the text actually flow / smooth scroll up the screen for the first time in my life, way faster than I could read it when it got a US Robotics Courier HST modem.
Thus, the fastest modems were 8000 baud.
PS: Yes, it was amazing to see the text actually flow / smooth scroll up the screen for the first time in my life, way faster than I could read it when it got a US Robotics Courier HST modem.