4 ms·

Is dialup still an option?

9 points by ashitlerferad 10y ago

sevensor 10y ago
Even putting aside the barely-addressed question of whether it's even still possible to sign up for and use dialup internet service, I think we all knew the answer to this question already. Nonetheless, it's sobering to be reminded how much bandwidth we take for granted. (The answer is no, you can't use the internet on dialup. At least not the same internet everybody else is using.)
- shakna 10y ago
  Providers in my town still offer dialup [0]. Utterly useless considering that a) websites are enormous and b) they're supposed to be shutting down the copper lines in favour of the new fibre. I have seen one or two people purchase it: for long running processes that don't use speed. Like a dedicated IRC bot. [0] http://offers.dodo.com/dialup1_1304/ http://offers.dodo.com/dialup1_1304/
mdip 10y ago
Even worse - this assumes you can get your 56K modem to connect at 56K (and remain connected at that speed). Seventeen or so years ago when I had dial-up, I was lucky to get a stable 24k connection due to a variety of issues related to poor in-home wiring and outside phone wire quality. 16.8k was always reliable, above that, it was hit and miss. Maybe things have improved enough since then that a 56k connection can be taken for granted, but the wiring in my house hasn't changed, so to the extent that it was my wiring at fault, I'd assume I'd still issues.
- JoeAltmaier 10y ago
  And then there was the protocol issue. Some HDLC protocols spent more time polling than transferring data. I rewrote one (for ConvergeNet) that turned a packet protocol into a streaming one. The rule was: if you have a packet, send it. Then send feedback about what packets were received. Once the high-water mark passed a buffered packet #, it could be freed. This achieved nearly wire speed in the good case. Anyway, blast from the past.
avian 10y ago
Interestingly, it seems dial-up is still an option for me, technically speaking. My laptop (a ~4 year old HP EliteBook) came with a built-in analogue modem (never used, but I do see a /dev/ttyACM that responds to AT commands) and the national ISP (telekom.si) apparently still offers dial-up access according to their website. I might try to set that up for fun one day. Although it will probably be a challenge to find a true PSTN line around here.
contingencies 10y ago
You can use VOIP based endpoints and software like iaxmodem. A few years ago (~2007-2008) I had an E1 (30 telephone lines) to my office in mainland China specifically for oldschool parallel wardialling .. err.. I mean sending and receiving faxes. http://iaxmodem.sourceforge.net/ http://iaxmodem.sourceforge.net/

9 points by ashitlerferad 10y ago

Even putting aside the barely-addressed question of whether it's even still possible to sign up for and use dialup internet service, I think we all knew the answer to this question already. Nonetheless, it's sobering to be reminded how much bandwidth we take for granted. (The answer is no, you can't use the internet on dialup. At least not the same internet everybody else is using.)

shakna 10y ago
Providers in my town still offer dialup [0]. Utterly useless considering that a) websites are enormous and b) they're supposed to be shutting down the copper lines in favour of the new fibre. I have seen one or two people purchase it: for long running processes that don't use speed. Like a dedicated IRC bot. [0] http://offers.dodo.com/dialup1_1304/ http://offers.dodo.com/dialup1_1304/

mdip 10y ago

Even worse - this assumes you can get your 56K modem to connect at 56K (and remain connected at that speed). Seventeen or so years ago when I had dial-up, I was lucky to get a stable 24k connection due to a variety of issues related to poor in-home wiring and outside phone wire quality. 16.8k was always reliable, above that, it was hit and miss. Maybe things have improved enough since then that a 56k connection can be taken for granted, but the wiring in my house hasn't changed, so to the extent that it was my wiring at fault, I'd assume I'd still issues.

JoeAltmaier 10y ago
And then there was the protocol issue. Some HDLC protocols spent more time polling than transferring data. I rewrote one (for ConvergeNet) that turned a packet protocol into a streaming one. The rule was: if you have a packet, send it. Then send feedback about what packets were received. Once the high-water mark passed a buffered packet #, it could be freed. This achieved nearly wire speed in the good case. Anyway, blast from the past.

avian 10y ago

Interestingly, it seems dial-up is still an option for me, technically speaking. My laptop (a ~4 year old HP EliteBook) came with a built-in analogue modem (never used, but I do see a /dev/ttyACM that responds to AT commands) and the national ISP (telekom.si) apparently still offers dial-up access according to their website. I might try to set that up for fun one day. Although it will probably be a challenge to find a true PSTN line around here.

contingencies 10y ago

You can use VOIP based endpoints and software like iaxmodem. A few years ago (~2007-2008) I had an E1 (30 telephone lines) to my office in mainland China specifically for oldschool parallel wardialling .. err.. I mean sending and receiving faxes. http://iaxmodem.sourceforge.net/ http://iaxmodem.sourceforge.net/