5 ms·

The sound of the dialup, pictured (2012)

99 points by susam 4y ago

Jtsummers 4y ago
Posted and discussed a few times in the past: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26626437 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26626437 - March 30, 2021 (44 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15635144 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15635144 - Nov 6, 2017 (108 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9171514 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9171514 - March 9, 2015 (35 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5140135 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5140135 - Jan 30, 2013 (46 comments)
- dylan604 4y ago
  [flagged]
  - Jtsummers 4y ago
    > Karmajunkiearewe? Not really, these comments usually get -1 to +3 votes when I make them and I don't make them that often, just when I recognize the submission.
  - pessimizer 4y ago
    I bet if you're interested in reading comments about this story on HN, you'd appreciate reading hundreds of comments in four past threads. I don't understand the purpose in discouraging people from posting them. When dang does it, is it because he's karma-whoring?
Overtonwindow 4y ago
Found my new ring-tone! I remember with the 56k modems I would occasionally hear a "bong" sound a couple of times.
ck2 4y ago
Just can't make myself throw out my US Robotics 56k external modem, huge RS-232 cable and all. How far we've come.
- altgeek 4y ago
  "HST-only. 0 day warez" Same here, I can't bear to part with the Darth Vader of modems.
  - 1001101 4y ago
    HST training sequence was the best sounding. Would love to hear that again, and see a breakdown of what was going on there. Probably not as easy as maybe it's a trade secret vs. published standard. Also the stealth fighter of modems if you remember the print ads for it.
- pm215 4y ago
  I was still using mine for the answerphone capability (it was a "voice" modem variant) until the end of last year; but now I have no analogue phone service, only VOIP...
mgomez 4y ago
I have tinnitus. I always describe my particular case as sounding like a dialup modem that's being "muffled" because it's in the next room over, behind closed doors. With this I can now pinpoint the specific section (ANSam, 0:09–0:10).
DerekBickerton 4y ago
Link to the sound: https://oona.windytan.com/blogfiles/dialup.mp3 https://oona.windytan.com/blogfiles/dialup.mp3
imwillofficial 4y ago
So. Many. Memories.
- now__what 4y ago
  The pure dopamine hit from this sound clip: unrivalled.
remir 4y ago
I wish I could go back in time in the 90s and re-live those early internet moments from childhood.
- clnq 4y ago
  Thanks to dial-up, the 90s internet also couldn't handle all the junk, spam, and tracking garbage we have online today. And video ads or autoplay? Just funny to even think about.
- kroltan 4y ago
  play hypnospace outlaw, i guess. an interesting interactive story type game, taking place on the early internet.
neilv 4y ago
Back when, as a young kid, I had access to a dumb terminal with a modem, and trying all the local-call BBSes from a list that circulated, it was very easy to tell some things by the sounds on the speaker: at what baud you synced, whether the BBS had a Telebit that did PEP tones, whether it was busy, offline, or some other problems. I feel a little bit of nostalgia for the sounds (especially if it's for a successful connection). It was also a somewhat more decent time in computers, much like the early Internet. Every now and then, I have to stop myself from shopping on eBay for a vintage dumb terminal. But my wirelessly networked laptop and pocket computers with access to global hypertext of the world's knowledge and people are pretty neat, too.
jamesdwilson 4y ago
One thing I never quite understood about dialup is how they managed to handle duplex communication. That is, when one side is talking, how did the other side not talk over it, or how did they take turns, or how did they discern who said what.. like when one side was broadcasting, didn't it muddle up the audio on the other side?
- klondike_ 4y ago
  Presumably uplink and downlink use different frequencies, similar to how duplex radio works
  - psim1 4y ago
    No need to presume; the ITU-T standards are surprisingly readable! https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-V.22-198811-I https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-V.22-198811-I For this older standard (1200 bps using FSK modulation) it does indeed use separate bands (from section 6.1): On the general switched telephone network, the modem at the calling data station shall transmit in the low channel and receive in the high channel (call mode). The modem at the answering data station shall receive in the low channel and transmit in the high channel (answer mode). The newer modem standards are far more sophisticated and I don't know anything about them. I picked this one because I had been working with V.22 in the past year.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
nigrioid 4y ago
Here is a really cool collection of modem sounds: https://goughlui.com/2016/05/03/project-the-definitive-collection-of-v-90v-92-modem-sounds/ https://goughlui.com/2016/05/03/project-the-definitive-colle... https://archive.goughlui.com/legacy/soundofmodems/index.htm https://archive.goughlui.com/legacy/soundofmodems/index.htm https://archive.goughlui.com/legacy/modemlab/index.htm https://archive.goughlui.com/legacy/modemlab/index.htm
ngcc_hk 4y ago
Strange what I read is more interesting than the topic said. The blackbird talking is particularly inviting for further investigation. One major “found” is about harmony and circle. Do you think our music is in another dimension because it is imaginary number (as rotation …). Wonder.

99 points by susam 4y ago

Posted and discussed a few times in the past: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26626437 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26626437 - March 30, 2021 (44 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15635144 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15635144 - Nov 6, 2017 (108 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9171514 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9171514 - March 9, 2015 (35 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5140135 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5140135 - Jan 30, 2013 (46 comments)

dylan604 4y ago
[flagged]
- Jtsummers 4y ago
  > Karmajunkiearewe? Not really, these comments usually get -1 to +3 votes when I make them and I don't make them that often, just when I recognize the submission.
- pessimizer 4y ago
  I bet if you're interested in reading comments about this story on HN, you'd appreciate reading hundreds of comments in four past threads. I don't understand the purpose in discouraging people from posting them. When dang does it, is it because he's karma-whoring?

Overtonwindow 4y ago

Found my new ring-tone! I remember with the 56k modems I would occasionally hear a "bong" sound a couple of times.

ck2 4y ago

Just can't make myself throw out my US Robotics 56k external modem, huge RS-232 cable and all. How far we've come.

altgeek 4y ago
"HST-only. 0 day warez" Same here, I can't bear to part with the Darth Vader of modems.
- 1001101 4y ago
  HST training sequence was the best sounding. Would love to hear that again, and see a breakdown of what was going on there. Probably not as easy as maybe it's a trade secret vs. published standard. Also the stealth fighter of modems if you remember the print ads for it.
pm215 4y ago
I was still using mine for the answerphone capability (it was a "voice" modem variant) until the end of last year; but now I have no analogue phone service, only VOIP...

mgomez 4y ago

I have tinnitus. I always describe my particular case as sounding like a dialup modem that's being "muffled" because it's in the next room over, behind closed doors. With this I can now pinpoint the specific section (ANSam, 0:09–0:10).

DerekBickerton 4y ago

Link to the sound: https://oona.windytan.com/blogfiles/dialup.mp3 https://oona.windytan.com/blogfiles/dialup.mp3

imwillofficial 4y ago

So. Many. Memories.

now__what 4y ago
The pure dopamine hit from this sound clip: unrivalled.

remir 4y ago

I wish I could go back in time in the 90s and re-live those early internet moments from childhood.

clnq 4y ago
Thanks to dial-up, the 90s internet also couldn't handle all the junk, spam, and tracking garbage we have online today. And video ads or autoplay? Just funny to even think about.
kroltan 4y ago
play hypnospace outlaw, i guess. an interesting interactive story type game, taking place on the early internet.

neilv 4y ago

Back when, as a young kid, I had access to a dumb terminal with a modem, and trying all the local-call BBSes from a list that circulated, it was very easy to tell some things by the sounds on the speaker: at what baud you synced, whether the BBS had a Telebit that did PEP tones, whether it was busy, offline, or some other problems. I feel a little bit of nostalgia for the sounds (especially if it's for a successful connection). It was also a somewhat more decent time in computers, much like the early Internet. Every now and then, I have to stop myself from shopping on eBay for a vintage dumb terminal. But my wirelessly networked laptop and pocket computers with access to global hypertext of the world's knowledge and people are pretty neat, too.

jamesdwilson 4y ago

One thing I never quite understood about dialup is how they managed to handle duplex communication. That is, when one side is talking, how did the other side not talk over it, or how did they take turns, or how did they discern who said what.. like when one side was broadcasting, didn't it muddle up the audio on the other side?

klondike_ 4y ago
Presumably uplink and downlink use different frequencies, similar to how duplex radio works
- psim1 4y ago
  No need to presume; the ITU-T standards are surprisingly readable! https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-V.22-198811-I https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-V.22-198811-I For this older standard (1200 bps using FSK modulation) it does indeed use separate bands (from section 6.1): On the general switched telephone network, the modem at the calling data station shall transmit in the low channel and receive in the high channel (call mode). The modem at the answering data station shall receive in the low channel and transmit in the high channel (answer mode). The newer modem standards are far more sophisticated and I don't know anything about them. I picked this one because I had been working with V.22 in the past year.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

nigrioid 4y ago

Here is a really cool collection of modem sounds: https://goughlui.com/2016/05/03/project-the-definitive-collection-of-v-90v-92-modem-sounds/ https://goughlui.com/2016/05/03/project-the-definitive-colle... https://archive.goughlui.com/legacy/soundofmodems/index.htm https://archive.goughlui.com/legacy/soundofmodems/index.htm https://archive.goughlui.com/legacy/modemlab/index.htm https://archive.goughlui.com/legacy/modemlab/index.htm

ngcc_hk 4y ago

Strange what I read is more interesting than the topic said. The blackbird talking is particularly inviting for further investigation. One major “found” is about harmony and circle. Do you think our music is in another dimension because it is imaginary number (as rotation …). Wonder.