You can still do dial up, if you need to 😉
In the NL there is no use anymore, only if it were a isa card for your older 486 for gaming to friends by telephone line.

I would desoldering useful components like caps (both ceramic and chimic ones), quartz, resistors and the jacks sockets. Its always helpful to have those at hand when you want to fix some broken or damaged hardware 😀

I always wished someone would create some sort of hardware to convert modem to something that isn't so fragile, connection-wise. For instance, my 28.8 always got 26.4, Max and my 56k was always at something like 52k or 53k. It would be neat to create something that sits in-between the modem and the next point of communication so that it could always get a flawless 28.8 or 56k

I always throw modem cards in recycling. 😀

Logistics wrote:

I always wished someone would create some sort of hardware to convert modem to something that isn't so fragile, connection-wise. For instance, my 28.8 always got 26.4, Max and my 56k was always at something like 52k or 53k. It would be neat to create something that sits in-between the modem and the next point of communication so that it could always get a flawless 28.8 or 56k

It's a combination of overhead, and the quality of the twisted pair coming from the ped to your home/apartment. Even with heavy compression, you'll NEVER get the full 56K. That's just the sad state of how Dial-up connects to POTS.

*EDIT*

I forgot to mention, but ISDN is also considered a digital modem (128kbps, can dial on demand), and if you stretch the definition of a CSU/DSU, those can sorta kinda be considered a modem (think T1/E1 circuits). And that's not counting ADSL/SHDSL/VDSL2+. Those require end-user modems to interface with the line cards in the DSLAM. If you have an end-modem with multiple wan ports, you can even bond multiple xDSL links to overcome poor twisted pair, exceeded cable lengths,etc... I had a scenario where I had to bond 8 SHDSL links, just to meet the data speed requirement on a military installation. Even with all those links bonded, it still maxed at 1Mbps symmetric, because of the infrastructure issues.

PeterLI wrote:

I always throw modem cards in recycling. 😀

I keep 'em. I've had situations where I've had to maintain network cores from a thousand miles away. If the main backhaul into the co-location facility dies, having a phone line from a separate provider allows me to dial-in thru a 56K modem into an "access router" that has a special serial cable called an Octal cable. It has 8 RJ-45 ends that connect to the console port of up to eight routers or switches. You dial-in once, and can access the console CLI on the others, just like you were sitting there. Incredibly handy.

Oh, and don't forget some companies still use RAS dial banks, using multiple modems.

PeterLI wrote:

I always throw modem cards in recycling. 😀

IIRC, you can drop those, and batteries off at Office Depot or Office MAX. They have little drop off boxes in front of the store.

Or better yet, donate any good, usable equipment off to a K-12 unit, or a school that teaches under-priviledged kids how to use PCs. To earn some good Karma (god knows I need it), I'd salvage parts, and build PCs to donate just for that reason.

If I knew of a local place that taught those kids networking/telecom, I'd volunteer as a teacher (I was a Microsoft/Novell/Cisco trainer way back in the day).

The "Speaker" and "Microphone" jacks suggest it might be voice capable.

I have long been intrigued by the idea of recording my telephone conversations with my PC, or using my PC as an answering machine, or even just using my handy PC headset to talk on the phone, but I have been completely unsuccessful in finding an affordable means of doing so. There's an OEM program known as Classic Phonetools that's supposed to do the job, but it kind of sucks and it seems there's no open source alternative for Windows. (It seems vgetty/mgetty under Linux will do it, though.)

Sorry to say, I've always ditched them. I usually reason that it takes up a valuable PCI slot, probably restricts air flow, just one more jack to confuse the noobs that crap their pants when they look at the back of a computer, ect.

I recycle them, at least someone will make use of the copper contacts...

I do however have an older ISA one that I kept because it had some dip switches on it and looked neat.

I've kept my "bag of modems" from over the years just in case - recycling is pretty simple, but I have that gnawing hunch that after dumping off all of them I'll come across a need (like after dumping all of my EDO DIMMs (which hadn't been used in a decade) I came across someone who needed one). But in terms of day to day I honestly don't know what you can do with it - maybe voice, like Jorpho mentioned, or as a failover, like ElectricMonk mentioned.

Yes. Desolder stuff and collect gold-teath from the isa connector.
Otherwise, you could just set up an old-school bbs system.
Just for the kick's you know. 😁

My house is too small to hold on to too many things.

Normally I don't advocate scrapping usable electronics but modems are one thing that became highly uselss very quickly

For a voice modem, with suitable software, you can make an intelligent answering system, multiple boxes - also found a call screener, but it appears to require either LSI or Conexant/Rockwell - the "Ambi" sounds like that modem has the Cirrus/Intel/Ambient chipset

I think PCI modems are the most useless component in old PCs. There's a massive glut of them and nobody wants them. Rarely there might be an individual who needs 1, but that's it. No organization with a network of PCs, schools or otherwise, have any use for them in quantity. They might need network cards but not modems.

A relative's Core2 Quad HP still came with an Express slot modem. That surprised me, but I guess they get a few customers who need it. I removed it just to reduce clutter/power usage/airflow restriction. There's no reason to leave them in if you don't need them.

My pile of modems is starting to take more space than they deserve, and the PCI models especially are completely uninteresting and useless. If anything is disposable, I think these are. I suppose they might have some components worth salvaging, maybe.
I'll hold on to the Express modem mentioned above (since it's the only one I have) and probably the ISAs. The most useful to me is an external serial port 56k modem. I'm keeping that as a "just in case" thing for the foreseeable future. It will work easily on anything with a serial port without any driver hassles.

Some of the really old modems have socketed chips you or somebody might be able to reuse, particularly EPROMs or possibly Flash chips.

The PCI modems still have one particular use: they can turn your PC into a FAX machine! Very useful in the office since fax is still a widely used method of communication between companies.

RacoonRider wrote:

The PCI modems still have one particular use: they can turn your PC into a FAX machine! Very useful in the office since fax is still a widely used method of communication between companies.

I was just thinking that. A large amount of older people are far more comfortable faxing something, than emailing, or trying to digitally sign PDFs. Still a big market for that, not counting overseas areas, where the infrastructure just ain't there for everyone to have their own PCs, and can fax from a cafe.

I'm told that faxing is still regarded as considerably more secure than E-mail.

Jorpho wrote:

I'm told that faxing is still regarded as considerably more secure than E-mail.

I am going to say meh here since phone lines can be tapped