I also have two external modems (a 3Com Courier 56k V92 everything and a 3Com sportster 56k) and was wondering the same: are they useful for anything these days?

Generally useless unless you've got at least one landline, then you can dial a mobile tethered to a PC (which will act as another modem).

In rare cases you can connect two modems directly and tell them not to rely on dialtone being present but it's not guaranteed to work at all. Even connecting over actual landlines can be problematic these days if there's a VoIP circuit somewhere along the connection.

jmarsh wrote on 2020-04-10, 04:12:

In rare cases you can connect two modems directly and tell them not to rely on dialtone being present but it's not guaranteed to work at all.

There's really no advantage compared to a null modem connection.

jmarsh wrote on 2020-04-10, 04:12:

In rare cases you can connect two modems directly and tell them not to rely on dialtone being present but it's not guaranteed to work at all. Even connecting over actual landlines can be problematic these days if there's a VoIP circuit somewhere along the connection.

My father and me built ourselves a home phone using two real phones and a little box in the middle (functioning as a telephone system).
The box in the middle would cause a ring on one phone, if the other's handset was lifted.
It's not much, but it may also work with modems. That being said, it shouldn't be hard to find real telephone systems (second-hand) cheap on places like eBay.

Personally, I wouldn't throw away "good" modems yet if possible (WinModem exlcuded 😉 ). They may be useful for games that supported dial-connections only.
A Raspberry Pi or other interface *could* appear any time that tunnels the information over the internet (you never know; for lower speeds this might be easy).
They also contain interesting parts, such as relays, MCUs, EPROMs/Flash ROMs, fast FiFo chips (16550A, can be used to upgrade old serial ports using 16450), diodes and such

Edit: To give an example: In the distand past, in the dark times of acoustic couplers and 1200/300 baud modems, amateur radio people used to get their hands on the BELL type of modem ICs
in order to build radio modems for Packet-Radio. When the original chips (TCM3105) became scarce, old "useless" modems became a valuable resource.

ujav wrote on 2020-04-09, 19:11:

Besides from games and internet, how easy is to set up a home BBS, or maybe FIDO archive/emulation?

You don't need a modem to setup a BBS nowadays, in fact you shouldn't because most people won't be able to call in (same like you, people don't have copper landlines anymore).
The approach used is some proxy which answers to telnet connections and transforms them to what the BBS is expecting. This way you expose the BBS to the internet and people can connect simply using a telnet client.

appiah4 wrote on 2020-04-10, 07:15:

jmarsh wrote on 2020-04-10, 04:12:

In rare cases you can connect two modems directly and tell them not to rely on dialtone being present but it's not guaranteed to work at all.

There's really no advantage compared to a null modem connection.

There is, because you can't use any software that uses a dialer with a null-modem cable.

Using this method, you can even still get online with a modem-equipped Dreamcast by "dialing" another modem connected to a PC, which serves as the gateway to the internet.

Found a pretty new and detailed guide about this: https://gekk.info/articles/ata-dialup.html

Thanks for the info ! My mom still has a hardwired phone and no internet thru the phone company (though is most likely digitized at the CO). My land line comes from a ONT because I have "Fiber to the House" so would be a type of VOIP. I will try to persuade here into letting me bring over an old box with a modem and experiment with dialing into it from mine to see how it works out. I have a bunch of jumper set US Robotics ISA 33.6k and 56k modems that will work in a 486 or Pentium box. Would be great to play Command and Conquer original head-to-head over modems again... just some thoughts.....

telephone line simulators are a thing, but expensive

an open source design for a DIY one would be amazing

ujav wrote on 2020-06-21, 22:56:

Found a pretty new and detailed guide about this: https://gekk.info/articles/ata-dialup.html

Very interesting! I'll dive into that properly when I have time. I'd love to make use of the onboard modem in my Presario.

You can make a phone line simulator (at least the voltage delivery part) rather cheaply, but I lost interest in this about twenty years ago after finding that specific modems were required to play ball using this method with a Dreamcast.

When I was living with my dad in 2005 I tried dialing a free host in Washington; it was nice. Then apparently the phone company contacted him to complain that his line was "for voice only, no data!"

Yeah ok.

Haven't tried/or had access to a phone line since. I have a box of modems; just because.

Here is a youtube vid on showing that guide in action, give you bit of an idea on what to expect.
https://youtu.be/Bk86uqEiwpE

You can replace the linux box with NT RAS server if that's more your thing (it is for me)
When I do get around to setting it up it'll be just for a bit of fun of course there are no benefits for using a modem in this day and age.

In the US there is still a rather large number of folks with strictly dialup.

What’s more unfortunate is even on rather terrible modern lines the so-called ringer limitations no longer apply and 128-256k over dialup could be possible for the rural folks and laggards alike despite the law limiting data to 56k

I have plenty of old modems in storage, both external and external. I just replace them with ethernet cards or use a null modem cable to log into my linux box which is vary easy to do.

Caluser2000 wrote on 2020-06-22, 17:41:

I have plenty of old modems in storage, both external and external. I just replace them with ethernet cards or use a null modem cable to log into my linux box which is vary easy to do.

Do you happen to have an External Supra 28.8? I used to own one of these.. I would very much like to buy one if I ever come across it.

appiah4 wrote on 2020-06-22, 20:24:

Caluser2000 wrote on 2020-06-22, 17:41:

I have plenty of old modems in storage, both external and external. I just replace them with ethernet cards or use a null modem cable to log into my linux box which is vary easy to do.

Do you happen to have an External Supra 28.8? I used to own one of these.. I would very much like to buy one if I ever come across it.

Have not seen a Supra external in a long time ! I looked thru my externals, 3 USR and one Motorola, all 33.6k or 56k. thought I had a Cardinal too but nope.

I've been waiting for someone to make a modem thread. I found the craziest modem ever a few months ago... been waiting for the time to make a thread about it.

Three words: hardware wavetable synth

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2020-06-23, 03:13:

I've been waiting for someone to make a modem thread. I found the craziest modem ever a few months ago... been waiting for the time to make a thread about it.

Three words: hardware wavetable synth

Yep, I'm going to need to hear more about this.