dial-ups

Phone line internet

Dial-ups are internet connections established through telephone lines, requiring a modem to dial a number and connect.

The term evokes the slow, noisy connections that dominated home internet access in the 1990s: Back in the dial-up days, you couldn't use the phone while online.

Now largely obsolete, dial-up persists in remote areas without broadband infrastructure.

technology

modem

Digital-to-analog signal converter

connectionA joining or relation
internetInterconnected computer systems
56kLegacy modem bandwidth

bandwidth · AOL · handshake · baud · ISP · landline · telephone · router · broadband · buffering

sound

screech

High, harsh cry

staticWithout motion or change
hissSharp sibilant sound
beepShort electronic tone

tone · noise · crackle · whine · chirp · buzz · warble · electronic · analog · frequency

nostalgia

retro

Evoking recent past

vintageQuality from past eras
1990sFinal twentieth-century decade
memoriesStored past experiences

obsolete · outdated · childhood · old-school · bygone · primitive · archaic · classic · throwback · early internet

Opposites

connection speed/bandwidth

dial-upsbroadband

Fast internet access

high-speed internet · fiber optic · cable internet · fiber-to-the-home · 5G

Family

dial, dials, dialed, dialing, redial, redialed, autodialer, redials, redialing

Familiarity: Top 500,000
Profile: Used worldwide · Concrete · Everyday, not technical · Rated G