Are dial-up modems useful for anything?

[Ole Juul]

I have run into the occasional person who is on dial up yet but it is very rare. I don't know how they do it with the modern image-laden web.

Well in North America, about 10% are using dialup. Even apart from some users balking at the expense of broadband, using our current distribution model, the size of the continent excludes providing other than a phone line to many areas. As you see above, there are two dialup users in this thread so it's actually very common - even among computer aficionados.

Four years ago we didn't have our wireless connection here. ADSL is only for short distances, and cable companies won't touch low density areas, so we only had dialup. I set up a separate computer with a modem which would automatically dial out when accessed. My wife and I were able to both surf at the same time that way. Using Adblock helps a lot. Apart from streaming audio/video, which is out of the question, many sites which need bandwidth are often very shallow and don't warrant a visit anyway.

 

[Caluser2000]

I haven't used a computer modem in maybe 10 years but at work we send and receive faxes every day. Fax machines are very easy for people to use. I don't dare try to make them switch to faxing/scanning software!

I have run into the occasional person who is on dial up yet but it is very rare. I don't know how they do it with the modern image-laden web.

It's very easy really. I just don't see so called bb internet as a priority. At least one member here has alluded to high speed "bb" being a misnomer Using dial-up doesn't seem too stop me from helping folk here or on other sites. I too use a fax machine on a daily basis at work, the bonus is it is a scanner and photocopier as well.

I just use AnalogXs small proxy server software if I want a shared connection. Works a treat.

 

[NeXT]

I have always wanted to do some pretty weird stuff using modems. Over time I have collected a number of serial external modems and one particular PCI card which has EIGHT modems on it.
I have wanted to do something cool like have a single line ISP setup on my server or remotely log into my network or just have one setup as a system console you can dial into.
The main problem is that using a telephone like this can be expensive.
I used a coupler modem back in 2010 during the Portal 2 BBS ARG. I couldn't figure out how to make a regular modem work without a handshake so I just dialed in the number and slammed the handset down on the coupler.

We have tha bandmaster BBS here but it will hang you up if you try to dial in and you are not a fully registered member.

 

[IBMMuseum]

...Over time I have collected a number of serial external modems and one particular PCI card which has EIGHT modems on it. I have wanted to do something cool like have a single line ISP setup on my server or remotely log into my network or just have one setup as a system console you can dial into. The main problem is that using a telephone like this can be expensive...

You mean eight serial ports to connect your external modems. That setup would be more like a BBS, ISPs have had something like a Cisco 5200 (48 lines in from T1s) or 5300 (96 lines) Access Server for years. About the time I came into the industry in 1997, we were purging the Ascend equipment that had separate 28.8Kbps PCMCIA modems (still have some of those boxed up, with even less demand than other internal modems).

We still run dial-up for customers (a few on solar they are so far out), but it has really dropped off (from a need of 500 lines to easily less than a tenth of that currently)...

EDIT: I just counted for what would be almost peak hours, and we had an even dozen dial-up accounts online for all of our service areas...

 

[eeguru]

It's actually getting harder and harder to connect an analog modem. True circuit switched analog lines are far from dead but they definitely terminally ill. Most are being replaced by mobile networks or VOIP. The latter of which has too much jitter to support high speed modulated data tones. I've thought about picking up a cheap Norstar MICS just so our local vintage group would have something to plug them into to demonstrate their operation to others.

@IBMMuseum As soon as the 56K standards debuted, it became necessary to synthesis the downstream modulation directly in the digital domain so you could phase align it with the channel clock. So most ISPs switched to ISDN trunk cards with a DSP per channel that emulated modems. Lots of companies made and still make them with 23 modems on a single T1 line card.

 

[MikeS]

I recently got a bee in my bonnet (along with some bats) about the Cardinal 2400 series internal modems. Specifically the 2450MNP (internal), but the other three models are of some interest too...

I'll have a look and let you know if I find anything interesting. Meanwhile, enjoy the holidays; bet it really looks & feels like Christmas out there in Coalmont right now...

 

[MikeS]

I have run into the occasional person who is on dial up yet but it is very rare. I don't know how they do it with the modern image-laden web.

We ask our buddies to download that 150MB file or we park outside the local Starbucks or we sneak onto our neighbour's unsecured wireless, and we have lots of patience and play lots of Solitaire while waiting for that image-laden page to load ;-)

 

[Krille]

Of course, you can use them as caller ID boxes if you have POTS

Caller ID capable modems are worth their weight in gold. I use my old modem exactly like this with a "phone number directory"-type program I made to block calls from telemarketers, charity organizations, surveys and other annoying people. That feature alone is just invaluable! And, as Ole said, it's very handy to use a modem as a simple dialer.

 

[MikeS]

Although it's down at the moment I have an old 486 with a Caller-ID modem that announces the name and number through a text-to-speech card, logs the numbers, names and times to disk, and displays a scrolling list on several composite monitors.

I need two phone lines anyway for other reasons and my main system has two modems, one to dial outgoing calls on the voice line and the other modem and line for internet access, FAXes and remote administration of several remote DOS systems via PCAnywhere; all in all I have four modems in daily use.

DOS-compatible internal Caller-ID modems are definitely worth their weight in gold, especially if they can be configured to not interfere with com1 and com2.

 

[NeXT]

You mean eight serial ports to connect your external modems.

No. It's actually a full-length PCI card with eight modems on it. It isn't a multiport serial card.

 

[Caluser2000]

Although it's down at the moment I have an old 486 with a Caller-ID modem that announces the name and number through a text-to-speech card, logs the numbers, names and times to disk, and displays a scrolling list on several composite monitors.

I need two phone lines anyway for other reasons and my main system has two modems, one to dial outgoing calls on the voice line and the other modem and line for internet access, FAXes and remote administration of several remote DOS systems via PCAnywhere; all in all I have four modems in daily use.

DOS-compatible internal Caller-ID modems are definitely worth their weight in gold, especially if they can be configured to not interfere with com1 and com2.

Sounds like an impressive setup Mike. How long have you been using PC Anywhere? Wouldn't mind getting a hold of a boxed set of that for Dos. It comes up occasionally on our local auction here in NZ.

 

[MikeS]

..How long have you been using PC Anywhere? Wouldn't mind getting a hold of a boxed set of that for Dos. It comes up occasionally on our local auction here in NZ.

About ten years or so; I did a lot (and still do a little) remote support of DOS installations and I'd used Carbon Copy and another package whose name I don't recall, but when I discovered PCAnywhere/DOS V5 I loved it. I think it dates back to the good old pre-Symantec days and comes with an excellent 350 page manual-on-CD, but it's kind of quietly tucked away in the back of the Windows CD without much fanfare, and it's probably gone from later versions altogether.

 

[Caluser2000]

About ten years or so; I did a lot (and still do a little) remote support of DOS installations and I'd used Carbon Copy and another package whose name I don't recall, but when I discovered PCAnywhere/DOS V5 I loved it. I think it dates back to the good old pre-Symantec days and comes with an excellent 350 page manual-on-CD, but it's kind of quietly tucked away in the back of the Windows CD without much fanfare, and it's probably gone from later versions altogether.

Is this the same manual? - www.sirischool.com/PCAnywhere/DOCS/VERSION5.PDF

 

[MikeS]

Is this the same manual? - www.sirischool.com/PCAnywhere/DOCS/VERSION5.PDF

I'm on dial-up right now so it's not convenient to look, but if it's 356 pages and (c) 1994 then it's probably the one.

 

[Caluser2000]

It's the same alright. Didn't take terribly long to get on this XP box using a 56k modem.:listen:

 

[EverythingIBM]

Same here; a LOT cheaper !

Actually, it wasn't cheaper for me. I was one of those stubborn people back in 2005 who never bothered to upgrade and was still using dial-up. But my ISP charged like $60 for "overuse". In other words, they just wanted to charge you up the rear end until you switched to ADSL.
--> they never EVER charged me for overuse in all of my years of dial-up until they wanted me to upgrade. And no, I didn't "overuse" my bandwidth, I was just browing some light webpages with text.

If I could get an 8-bit ISA modem for my 5150, I'd totally try to dial-up and get it on the internet. But that probably won't be happening any time soon.

 

[MikeS]

Well, I pay $2.95 per month for unlimited dial-up access with local numbers in most major Canadian cities (and Miami, for the snowbirds), and if I wanted to put up with ads then at least NetZero still offers free access.

 

[MikeS]

It's the same alright. Didn't take terribly long to get on this XP box using a 56k modem.:listen:

Well, you never know how long these things take; some of those 15-20 MB files can really tie things up for a while. Besides, I do have a printed version.

Apparently Symantec had it freely available at one time, but not any longer by the looks of it.

 

[Ole Juul]

If I could get an 8-bit ISA modem for my 5150, I'd totally try to dial-up and get it on the internet. But that probably won't be happening any time soon.

Certainly the advantage of an internal is that it has it's own UART and doesn't need a matched cable or external power supply. They are indeed easier to set up from that point of view. However, an external modem has no concerns beyond those problems. You can use any old or modern modem with your 5150 if you have a serial port on it.

 

[mikerm]

I have an external U.S. Robotics 56k modem just for that reason. I can use it on any machine that does normal serial communications.