Hehe, quite cool 😀 I'm surprised there wasn't a mention/pic of any of the old Milgo Electronics modems (was bought out by Racal-Datacom decades ago)... I use to work there down in Miami, FL back in the early 80's.

Heh, being that I JUST RECENTLY got broadband out here in the sticks, I recently retired my U.S. Robotics 56K V.92 External Faxmodem Model 005686-04 about a month ago <grin> ('white-case' version of the modem in the bottom right of pic 11).

Lastly, I have a hard-cover book entitled "Modem Handbook for the Communications Professional" (circa 1987)... hehe, kinda like a history book by today's standards 🤣! 😀

Oh, and I now remember my old accoustic modem for my home-built Sinclair ZX(?) Spectrum(?) 😀

my first modem was a gandalf (forgot model #, but found it the other day) 2400 baud... it's not quite as huge as the one in the article... anyway, I remember having to crack it open to set the DIP switches to hayes compatible... I didn't know much about modems back in the days, but I learned enough from reading that it was something I needed to use (early 90s by that time, and everything was already V.32 by then, for those who could afford it)... sure enough, after setting the dip switches right the first time, I was connected to a BBS... at a whopping 2400bps 😁 I thought I was the king of the world!

later, I replaced it with a a TEAM modem, the case design looks like that hayes in the article.... it was a little better because it was smaller, more sleek looking, and actually had a speaker so I could hear what was going on with the line... my gandalf was so primitive that it had no speaker phone... so you had no idea if you were getting a good handshake or not! the TEAM modem also had basic error correction which the gandalf didn't, so the winner was obvious 😀

then I managed to save up 300 bucks to get a USR Sportster 33.6 modem right when it came out... couldn't afford the more expensive external one, and back then internal was a "better" concept to me because desk clutter was undesired for me... still have it, still works

then my last modem which is still in my retro box is a USR Courier 56k internal... got it used for 25 bucks I think

but I will never forget the software modem fiasco... what a nightmare that was for many people getting it work reliably with their trashed up win9x systems

but I will never forget the software modem fiasco... what a nightmare that was for many people getting it work reliably with their trashed up win9x systems

Word!

Then I got a US Robotics 56k card.

Do older modems still work? Like 9600 or 2400?

I suppose 14.4, 28.8, and 33.6k modems do.

People apparently still use 56k modems.

I remember a big deal for me was when BellSouth offered a expanded local calling zone (at a Fee), which made the call to America Online access point a local call. We lived in the sticks. This was huge as prior to that online was a long distance call the whole time you were on, which wasnt cheap in those days. Basically it amounted to going to unlimited bandwidth, overnight....from exorbinant per minute rates.

TheMAN wrote:

but I will never forget the software modem fiasco... what a nightmare that was for many people getting it work reliably with their trashed up win9x systems

Software modems are still total POS... never will give as reliable and as fast of a connection as a true hardware modem.

EscapeVelocity wrote:

from exorbinant per minute rates.

Gawd... I remember way back when paying (what was it?) US$14.00 an hour for Compuserve!