Hmm.. Good question. Personally, I try to keep hardware-based modems, since they do work in DOS and do have an on-board computer.
On the other hand, win modems might be faster if the PC is powerful, since everything is handled by Windows drivers, so they are more likely up-to-date.

Another thing that's valuable on the hardware-modems are the EPROM chips and the micrcontroller/processor.
Some of these chips might be collector's items already. So maybe it's woth checking them online and sell these cards for their parts.

Edit: Another use case for theese modems: Net play on a real DOS rig.
I haven't checked, but I'm confident that some projects exist that emulate the "other side" of the line.
That might be interesting for ancient games (net chess game on Windows 2.x or a DOS game like Megatron that has no IPX support)
That way, it might be possible to re-route the modem connection over the internet or the LAN.
DOSBox has a similar feature, I recall. The phone number is interpreted as an IP or IPX address.

Another idea is to use the ISA modem for a "LAN"-like duo-player scenario.
You could connect two modem-equipped computers over an analogue in-house telephone system.
Or you could use your DSL/cable router for that purpose. Some models like AVM's Fritzbox do have two TAE jacks for
connecting two phones. It can also establish connections between phone A and phone B.

There is little point in keeping any POTS Modems in my opinion.

In my area at least, POTS doesn't exist so they are kind of impossible to use.

Maybe keep a couple, but beyond that, toss the rest IMO.

canthearu wrote:

There is little point in keeping any POTS Modems in my opinion.

In my area at least, POTS doesn't exist so they are kind of impossible to use.

Maybe keep a couple, but beyond that, toss the rest IMO.

We do have a Magic Jack. POTS phones/faxes/etc work with a Magic Jack.

@Jo22

I will not throw them out even if I do get rid of them. I'll check to see if any of the older ones are worth anything.

I would only keep USR hardware modems....or maybe some of the very early classics like the Hayes Smartmodem.

If you like to have interesting pieces of history, why not - but otherwise modems are and will remain the most useless pieces of hardware from the past. Most other parts can be used in retro gaming or demo or whatever rigs but modems would need an external party playing along.

How about ISDN adapters ? 😉

Jo22 wrote:

How about ISDN adapters ? 😉

Wouldn't hurt to keep 1, maybe 2.

But unfortunately, this kind of network hardware that relies on 3rd party networking systems is kind a useless.

Keeping a set of token ring cards with suitable switch and cables can be fun because you can use and demonstrate them.

Keeping 3 boxes of POTS modems, when you have limited or no POTS system available, is pointless because you can't really do anything with them.

As others have said, keep a couple of RS-232 modems aside if you ever want to play with modem stuff in the future, at least you'll be able to use them with most computer equipment. PCI win-modems are completely useless, they will only work on win95 to probably XP, and obviously only in PCI slots. I usually scavenge any useful components off win-modems and then shoot them to pieces with my air rifle..

Can't you get some sort of telephone line switcher and use them to create a simple home network?

Pardon my ignorance, but don't some ISA modems have UARTs on them?
Could they be kludged into some kind of serial connection?
Or would that take too much hardware modification?

Hamby wrote:

Pardon my ignorance, but don't some ISA modems have UARTs on them?

Yep, but there is no shortage of old hardware with RS232 UARTs on them. You can use a null modem cable to connect 2 computers via RS232, no analog modem required.