 This is 16 times the fastest bit rate and the serial port circuit can easily divide this down to lower frequencies as required.The number of data bits in each character can be 5 (for Baudot code), 6 (rarely used), 7 (for true ASCII), 8 (for most kinds of data, as this size matches the size of a byte), or 9 (rarely used).8 data bits are almost universally used in newer applications.