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Remember "dial-up?" ... It's not actually dead yet!. - Printable Version

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Remember "dial-up?" ... It's not actually dead yet!. - Maxmars - 03-06-2024

I remember to old days, I had to walk uphill both ways to and from school, my parents would smack me around if I got too uppity, dinosaurs roamed the earth, kids could go about their Halloween tricking and treating without an armed body guard watching them... and the heart-clenching sound of a modem trying desperately to "connect" with another modem on some bulletin board where we would share racy stories and adult-like conversations (and maybe take turns playing a game) ...

As it turns out, dialup services still exists today... two decades into the 21st century...

From Hackaday.com: DIAL-UP IS STILL, JUST BARELY, A THING
 

In an era dominated by broadband and wireless cellular networks, it might come as a surprise to many that dial-up internet services still exist in the United States. This persistence is not a mere relic of nostalgia — but a testament to the diverse and uneven nature of internet infrastructure across the country.

Yes, dial-up internet, with those screechy, crackly tones, remains a useful tool in areas where modern, high-speed internet services are either unaffordable or unavailable. Subscriber numbers are tiny, but some plough on and access the Internet by the old ways, not the new.



Now, in all the places in the virtual world, one where people obsess over the nature of any looming "end of civilization" type scenarios... I would have thought the idea of using existing infrastructure (physical phone lines) as a 'dial-up' networking possibility would have been extremely attractive.  

Imagine it, networking with others without some 'middleman' service provider established 'rules' to limit, throttle, spy, or abuse you in any way.  Pretty cool, no?

I get it, at a max of something between 9600 and 14.4 K baud... most everything we come to think of convenient is gone.  But knowledge sharing and personal communications isn't something you might want to hinge on the good will and prosperity of a "service provider."

I would have thought any prepping society would establish a "backbone" network that actual people could use (not for machine automation - for actual communications.)  But such are the fantastical musing of a mind like mine.


RE: Remember "dial-up?" ... It's not actually dead yet!. - BeTheGoddess - 03-06-2024

(03-06-2024, 01:53 PM)Maxmars Wrote: I remember to old days, I had to walk uphill both ways to and from school, my parents would smack me around if I got too uppity, dinosaurs roamed the earth, kids could go about their Halloween tricking and treating without an armed body guard watching them... and the heart-clenching sound of a modem trying desperately to "connect" with another modem on some bulletin board where we would share racy stories and adult-like conversations (and maybe take turns playing a game) ...

As it turns out, dialup services still exists today... two decades into the 21st century...

From Hackaday.com: DIAL-UP IS STILL, JUST BARELY, A THING
 

In an era dominated by broadband and wireless cellular networks, it might come as a surprise to many that dial-up internet services still exist in the United States. This persistence is not a mere relic of nostalgia — but a testament to the diverse and uneven nature of internet infrastructure across the country.

Yes, dial-up internet, with those screechy, crackly tones, remains a useful tool in areas where modern, high-speed internet services are either unaffordable or unavailable. Subscriber numbers are tiny, but some plough on and access the Internet by the old ways, not the new.



Now, in all the places in the virtual world, one where people obsess over the nature of any looming "end of civilization" type scenarios... I would have thought the idea of using existing infrastructure (physical phone lines) as a 'dial-up' networking possibility would have been extremely attractive.  

Imagine it, networking with others without some 'middleman' service provider established 'rules' to limit, throttle, spy, or abuse you in any way.  Pretty cool, no?

I get it, at a max of something between 9600 and 14.4 K baud... most everything we come to think of convenient is gone.  But knowledge sharing and personal communications isn't something you might want to hinge on the good will and prosperity of a "service provider."

I would have thought any prepping society would establish a "backbone" network that actual people could use (not for machine automation - for actual communications.)  But such are the fantastical musing of a mind like mine.

Freenet as I knew it apparently is now called Hypharnet

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyphanet

Im not a prepper, nut back in the day I was a little more active.


RE: Remember "dial-up?" ... It's not actually dead yet!. - Maxmars - 03-06-2024

I remember the stark difference between "mainstream media" descriptions of those kind of web networks (Freenet, Zeronet, etc. ...  "dark" they would call them ... even though "dark" isn't something that simply is... "dark" is what 'you' do.  The nicer thing about that entire family of networks was that you didn't need a specific browser (like tor) and the indexes were not manipulated (which can be either good or bad... but nevertheless freed from anyone's intercession.)


RE: Remember "dial-up?" ... It's not actually dead yet!. - sprocketuk - 03-10-2024

RTT is what you are after. a HAM radio thing where you use your computers to talk over the air.
No phone lines, no ISP, nothing.


RE: Remember "dial-up?" ... It's not actually dead yet!. - Maxmars - 03-11-2024

(03-10-2024, 12:59 PM)sprocketuk Wrote: RTT is what you are after. a HAM radio thing where you use your computers to talk over the air.
No phone lines, no ISP, nothing.

But would it be possible to actually set up a "server" on a continuous basis?

I thought that RTT is pretty much point-to-point... but then I am not HAM radio savvy.


RE: Remember "dial-up?" ... It's not actually dead yet!. - FlyersFan - 03-11-2024

(03-06-2024, 01:53 PM)Maxmars Wrote: I remember to old days, I had to walk uphill both ways to and from school, my parents would smack me around if I got too uppity, dinosaurs roamed the earth, kids could go about their Halloween tricking and treating without an armed body guard watching them... 

I remember phone books.  Especially the yellow pages.  I miss those.  Seriously.


RE: Remember "dial-up?" ... It's not actually dead yet!. - sprocketuk - 03-11-2024

(03-11-2024, 01:08 AM)Maxmars Wrote: But would it be possible to actually set up a "server" on a continuous basis?

I thought that RTT is pretty much point-to-point... but then I am not HAM radio savvy.

It is pretty much point to point. No reason though you cant set up a pc to9 serve pages when someone is connected


RE: Remember "dial-up?" ... It's not actually dead yet!. - BeTheGoddess - 03-21-2024

Old PIC dialup modens were useful to repurpose as a 'line in" type thing for some folk back in the day when our pc's had a pci slot.

Their pulling up the old copper network here if they havnt done it already, so I dont expect a dialup modem would be of any use, but those cheap wifi routers, well...