Not long ago, I spent an informative lunch hour with NapaNet's chief technology officer, Steve Brown, talking about the new standards about to be implemented at Napa's own Internet service provider (ISP), NapaNet.

A couple of weeks later, we were continuing the conversation on TV28.COM, my local cable access technology show that plays on channel 28 Saturday nights at 10. Seems changes are coming, changes I've been waiting for since the launch of Windows XP last fall.

If you recall, the introduction of Microsoft's latest and greatest consumer operating system, Windows XP, had the unfortunate effect of rendering a good deal of our computer hardware obsolete. In my case, my perfectly good v.90 U.S. Robotics 56k modem became worthless, along with my web cam, scanner and digital camera software.

Microsoft refers to this as hardware and software that are "unsupported." In all fairness to the Redmond, Washington behemoth, it also means that the manufacturers of the stuff weren't ready to come up with fixes to save their equipment.

Now, I was pretty steamed, at least until I spotted a new U.S. Robotics modem that said it would support the new v.92 transmission standard. This standard allows for a form of Internet call waiting. Assuming that you have call waiting with Pacific Bell, a v.92 modem will let you take a phone call without breaking your data stream. In essence, it puts your modem on hold. Pretty cool, huh?

Well, that softened the blow of buying new equipment just to have Windows XP. Trouble was, v.92 has to be supported by your ISP, whether it's NapaNet, Earthlink, AOL or MSN. Without v.92-enabled modems or switches on their side, our v.92 modems are just the same ole same ole.

Brown let me know that NapaNet has been carefully testing and retesting the new gear they bought to roll out the new v.92 service, and they'll do their best to make it available some time in July. Now remember, you've got to have a v.92-capable modem to enjoy the new option.

Along with the v.92 comes three benefits:

One, the Internet call waiting;

Two, faster connect times; and,

Three, PCM Upstream that increases your upload speed to 48 kilobits per second. Older modems were limited to around 33 Kbps. This upstream feature could be a real plus for online gamers whose data speeds inhibit their real-time play.

But apparently there's more. Modem makers aren't exactly clear on this, but it seems that there's another modem standard buried in at least some, if not all, v.92 modems.

And that standard is called -- here we go again -- v.44.

This is nearly as exciting as modem on hold, for v.44 promises to increase the compression of our transmission data, to as much as a 6:1 ratio.

If you're unclear on that, it goes like this: Some data can have its bits and bytes crunched, through compression of redundancies, and the new packets of data fly to your computer over the Internet much, much faster.

Of course, there are limitations. For instance, those images so popular on most Web pages, in the JPEG and GIF formats, are already quite compressed, so you won't see much improvement there. But text -- and I read a lot of Web-based news stories at Yahoo! and MSNBC -- will really squeeze together with this new v.44.

I found a couple of sources of info on the Web that made it seem pretty clear that v.44 comes as a new standard along with the new v.92 modems, but you should really read the box before buying just any one. And, of course, v.44 has to be supported by the ISP. My hunch is that new ISP gear is going to enable both standards, soon if not modestly later.

I don't currently subscribe to America Online, MSN or Earthlink -- being a dyed-in-the-wool NapaNet supporter -- but I surfed past Modemsite.com looking for info. Modemsite.com has some pretty thorough info on v.92 and v.44, and the Web site also tries to stay current on which ISP offers the new services. It seems none do in our area, so NapaNet may indeed be first here.

By the way, the U.S. Robotics modem I bought was v.92 ready but needed an online upgrade. I had to go to www.usr.com/v92/ to check if my modem's upgrade was ready. It was, and I downloaded the flash utility to upgrade it. I did so, and I'm set to go. Now, come on, NapaNet, I'm ready for the next big thing!

Calvin Ross is an American Canyon author. His column appears in Tuesday's Business Page. E-mail him at calross@napanet.net. His webpage is napanet.net/~calross/