The same person I posted about in the other thread, who told me he paid $60 a month to have telnet requests to a domain name forwarded to his static IP address, said that his BBS software still supported actual call-ins, but he didn't have it set up because almost no one does it. At one point, he even had me try dialing in that way just to try it, because we both had a nostalgia for the old BBS days. It didn't work, but it was just because of something that he didn't plug in right or something, and he said he could easily get it to work but we never bothered.

It definitely should be possible, provided you still have the modem and the software to run it. I can't say whether DOSBox would actually emulate signals to a modem. I would assume that wouldn't be emulated, but I could be wrong. But if you've got the old PC lying around, then it should surely be possible. From what I gather, there are very few people still running BBSes this way, and the few BBSes still running seem to be Telnet based. But I wouldn't be surprised if there are still people out there who have the nostalgia for it and would love to do it. It's just a matter of finding one that's local to your area so you don't end up paying huge long distance fees.

I'm not sure what the point of that is, though. The Telnet BBSes all looked pretty much the same as the old BBSes to me.

I think it should work if you're dialing into something that's still connected via a modem (as Arlo explains), and if you're connected via a real phone-line (I've read that VOIP tends not to handle modem connectivity very well, but I've never had a reason to personally test that).

Arlo wrote:

I can't say whether DOSBox would actually emulate signals to a modem.

DOSBox supports serial port passthrough, so in theory you could use it with a physical modem, though of course this is beyond the scope of normal DOSBox operation. You can also use a communications terminal running in DOSBox to communicate with BBS software running in DOSBox elsewhere on the Internet, though again, that is not particularly supported.

There is also a Linux program called mgetty which can apparently be used to forward an incoming phone call on a modem to a Telnet session.

I went through a similar exercise about a year ago. As far as active, dial-up-capable BBSes go, the TelnetBBSGuide maintained an updated list up until a few months ago. I'm not sure if they've discontinued it for good, but here is a capture as of April, 2014:

1============================================================================
2  Modem      BBS Name                  City         ST Software TELNET
3206-386-4199 Seattle Community Network Seattle      WA Unix          #
4214-987-2135 Eclectic BBS              Univ. Park   TX TriBBS
5256-886-7616 Sursum Corda! BBS         Huntsville   AL Maximus       #
6281-272-8162 Ye Olde Inn IV            Houston      TX Maximus       #
7303-679-0161 Empire of the Dragon BBS  Evergreen    CO Worldgroup    #
8330-548-2620 WABUSA                    Kent         OH Virtual Ad    #
9337-984-4794 Positronium Repository    Lafayette    LA Wildcat       #
10401-949-0465 Fleet Headquarters        Greenville   RI Synchronet    #
11416-273-7230 Electronic Chicken BBS    Toronto      ON Synchronet    #
12416-273-8639 Dark Realms               Toronto      ON Renegade      #
13432-694-7317 Black Knights BBS         Midland      TX RemoteAccess
14502-875-8938 Capitol City Online       Frankfort    KY GT-2000       #
15503-646-2407 Keep BBS                  Beaverton    OR Worldgroup    #
16513-322-6369 Edge of Oblivion BBS      Racine       WI Synchronet    #
17530-534-5329 TDEC West BBS             Oroville     CA Spitfire
18602-955-4491 Heatwave BBS              Phoenix      AZ S&T TI-99/4A  #
19613-392-8896 Lion's Den                Trenton      ON Synchronet    #
20623-907-2858 Realm of Darkness         Phoenix      AZ MBSE          #
21626-355-5347 Mysteria                  Tujunga      CA BBBS          #
22717-396-1063 A Missing Chromosome      Lancaster    PA Mystic        #
23718-448-9402 Hidden Reef               Staten IslandNY S&T TI-99/4A
24780-439-8364 Xanadu                    Edmonton     AB Roboboard F/X #
25856-933-7096 Christian Fellowship      Mt. Ephriam  NJ PCBoard       #
26919-774-5930 Waldo's Place USA         Sanford      NC RemoteAccess  #
27951-652-1690 Borderline BBS            Hemet        CA All American  #
28972-329-0781 Prison Board              Mesquite     TX Wildcat       #
29979-696-3600 Ziplog Public Port        College Stn  TX Maximus
30979-696-6352 Brazos Valley HUB         College Stn  TX Maximus
31============================================================================

Of those listed, I dial into "Heatwave BBS" and "Prison Board" somewhat regularly.

Concerning telephony service, I have Comcast Digital Voice at home, through which I can get consistent modem connection rates above 50kbps. I had a home-wiring constraint to deal with, however, and so ended up doing some pretty extensive research into modem-over-VoIP solutions. Using the right combination of appropriately configured modem and ATA, VoIP works much better than I would have imagined, and, a year on, remains the solution of choice for use with my Tandy 1000 RLX system.

Here's the little write-up that I'd posted on the Vintage-Computer forum:

Cloudschatze wrote:

I've done quite a bit of research into using analog modems with various ATAs and VoIP services. A number of publications, includ […]
Show full quote

I've done quite a bit of research into using analog modems with various ATAs and VoIP services. A number of publications, including those from Cisco, list various recommendations for optimal modem-passthrough support. Some of the more important recommendations include:

- Use of a G.711 CODEC
- Packetization of 10ms - 20ms
- Disabling the echo canceller and voice activity detection / comfort noise generator
- Fixed, 200ms jitter buffers

From my own experience, I would like to add that V.34 and V.42bis compatibility is a must for whichever modem you'll be using. The newer your modem is, the better off you'll be.

I'd looked into a number of ATAs, including highly-configurable ones from both Cisco and Obihai, but opted to try the all-in-one, single-purchase package that is the NetTalk Duo WiFi.

"WHAT!? WiFi and VoIP with an analog modem!? That's got to be the suckiest thing ever!"

No, it actually works a lot better than even I thought it would. I'm pretty pleased, in fact.

While the NetTalk device isn't as configurable as some of the others, I was able to get the G.711 CODEC prioritized over the default, G.722 option. This change alone has resulted in consistently solid 14400bps connections using a newer USR 56k modem, and 19200bps connections (matching the DTE rate) using my Diamond SupraSonic modem. That's not to say that there isn't some inconsistency - the range has been between 9600bps and 26400bps - and given the error-correcting involved, I hesitate to say that the performance matches the connection rate, but overall, and given a week's worth of testing, I think the Duo WiFi is a well-performing, inexpensive option for casual dial-up use.

One bit of unfortunate warning: NetTalk isn't for everyone. I certainly recommend doing your own homework regarding any product or service provider, but can say that my experience with them has been pretty stellar so far.

And, the obligatory demonstration video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWiw8CKFoXc

BBS was before my time. But I did spend countless hours playing MUDs though; so much that I'd fallen asleep on the keyboard more than once while sneaking online with my laptop in bed.