You should have at least one for emergencies if your broadband goes down. Get an external model with serial connector.

Err.. no. Do you still have phone numbers for ISP's in your area?

Good question, I haven't tested them for a few years.

You'd be better off with a satphone for true emergencies but most people would be fine with the hotspot feature on their phone. Back in 2004 I remember using my flip phone as a modem don't know if you can do that anymore.

Maybe if you want to feel what is like sending a fax 😉

Well, you could always use it to play some games via Hyperterminal with your mates. It's not hard to pick one at all, as long as you hunting for old hardware - a few will surely come your way (and likely will cost you nothing to a few bucks at most).

I guess a shelf of USR Sportsters of varying speeds would make an interesting conversation piece.

You may also run into issues if you are trying to use an older version of Windows with your modem as some ISPs (like AT&T for example) have been upping the minimum version of Dial-up Networking permitted when you initially make a connection. In other words, you may not be able to make a connection at all if your ISP considers your DUN version too old even if the ISP supports dial-up connections.

buy I don't think so, Ask for one on free trading sites. you'll most likely get one eventually.
They are not desirable even in the retro community. You'll never use it, but an external modem can be used as a desk ornament for that full nostalgic effect.
Internal modem cant even be used for that. Wouldn't bother with an internal one at all.

Yeah, I have a couple of internal modems .... sort of slithered this way with other parts I got. Absolutely useless because POTS is going away completely here.

No idea what to do with them. Wish I had a mini telephone exchange to plug them into to get them to run, but have had no luck seeing anyone do such a thing.

Would only be worth it if you paid the price of shipping. Honestly, I toss out the modems I get since they're practically useless and a waste of IRQs.

DosFreak wrote:

You'd be better off with a satphone for true emergencies but most people would be fine with the hotspot feature on their phone. Back in 2004 I remember using my flip phone as a modem don't know if you can do that anymore.

Now that you mention it, way back in the 90s (c. 1996-7) I remember someone connecting their mobile phone to their laptop and using them to access the internet. What was this technology called?

Errius wrote:

DosFreak wrote:

You'd be better off with a satphone for true emergencies but most people would be fine with the hotspot feature on their phone. Back in 2004 I remember using my flip phone as a modem don't know if you can do that anymore.

Now that you mention it, way back in the 90s (c. 1996-7) I remember someone connecting their mobile phone to their laptop and using them to access the internet. What was this technology called?

... "tethering", perhaps?

What is the ipconfig look like, when dial-up is connected?

Stack 'Em!

@Muz

Unfortunately I don't remember anything about the setup. I don't even remember the model of the laptop, or how it connected to the mobile. (I'm guessing some sort of PCMCIA adaptor). However I do now remember the exact date I saw this: August 1997.

The laptop was new, black and expensive, so I'm guessing would be a late 1996 or early 1997 model.

Errius wrote:

@Muz

Unfortunately I don't remember anything about the setup. I don't even remember the model of the laptop, or how it connected to the mobile. (I'm guessing some sort of PCMCIA adaptor). However I do now remember the exact date I saw this: August 1997.

The laptop was new, black and expensive, so I'm guessing would be a late 1996 or early 1997 model.

Some GSM phones had the ability to make data calls using CSD https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circuit_Switched_Data. As far as I know many of the more expensive Nokia phones supported that technology, and I remember using an Internet connection tethered from a Nokia Communicator sometime in 1998. Ofcourse it was slow and expensive, but doable anyways.

I just like the Nostalgia of it all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsNaR6FRuO0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFBENFwxM0s

Well my opinion is, if you don't know if you need/want one, then just don't. You'd know otherwise.