| Baud rate, or also known as symbol rate or | | | | modems were desirable, as they could speed the |
| modulation rate, is a technical term related to | | | | process of transferring data. |
| electronic devices. This term refers to the | | | | The time when baud rate was most referred to |
| number of times in a second where the serial | | | | was at the end of the 20th century during the |
| communication would change its state of voltage, | | | | days of dial-up modems which used phone lines |
| frequency, or frequency phase angle. Its unit, | | | | for their connections. As baud would be the unit |
| baud or the abbreviated version, Bd, stems from | | | | used to describe the capacity of transmitting data |
| French inventor and telegraph engineer, Jean | | | | within a second; hence, it was natural for |
| Maurice Emile Baudot. He is famed for creating | | | | modems to face technological advances from the |
| the Baudot code, as well as the system that | | | | 2400 baud modem, to the 4800 baud to the |
| enables telegraphs to be printed, which both had | | | | 9600 baud modem. Especially when the advances |
| helped change telecommunications for the better. | | | | took place with other technologies as well, prices |
| One thing you should definitely note about these | | | | dropped to allow the boom of the modernized |
| formulas is that baud rates that are higher will | | | | versions of a lot of electronic items. Devices that |
| mean that there is a larger amount of data that | | | | transmitted data had become even more |
| can be transferred, so long the bits per symbol | | | | powerful and even served for different purposes, |
| compared is the same. Thus, 4800 baud modems | | | | eventually leading people to using bit rate instead |
| of 4 bits per second as compared to 9600 baud | | | | of baud when describing the speed of their |
| modems of 4 bits per second, would transfer | | | | devices. |
| much less data in a second. Hence, higher baud | | | | |