dial-up modems
Telephone line internet
Dial-up modems are devices that connected computers to the internet through ordinary telephone lines, translating digital data into audio signals that could travel over voice networks.
Dominant from the 1990s until broadband became widespread, they were notorious for slow speeds and the distinctive screech of the handshake sequence when establishing a connection.
The phone line was occupied during use: I can't call—someone's on the dial-up.
- beepShort electronic tone
- screechHigh, harsh cry
- handshakeMutual palm-gripping gesture
- AOLEarly internet provider
- connectionA joining or relation
slow connection · telephone · internet · baud · 56k · static · waiting · busy · noise · landline · online · logging on · disconnected · fax · download · crawling · buffering · loading
- obsolete techfloppy disk, VHS, cassette tape, floppy disks, Betamax
- obsolete media8-track, Betamax, cassette tapes, floppy disks, gramophones
- useless stuffjunk, clutter, trash, broken toys, dead batteries
dial-up modemsbroadband
Fast internet access
high-speed internet · fiber optic · cable modems · DSL · 5G
dial, modem, dials, dialed, dialing, dialer, redial, sundial, modems