15 Years

[squirmelia]

This Christmas, I will celebrate having owned a modem for 15 years.

Comments

[mooism.livejournal.com]

You still own a modem?

(You got one before me.)

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

I still own that modem, but no longer use it.

The modem I currently use (a mobile broadband modem) seems worse than that one, but maybe I just can't remember 15 years ago well enough.

[icklemichael.livejournal.com]

If you want to remember 15 years ago dial up using your phone as a modem (don't cheat and do a 3g or gprs connection!) - it really was very slow!

The other week I threw out the 14.4 modem I'd had for around 15 years - I still have Owen's PCMCIA 56k modem - I suspect he's forgotten I have it.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

I've had one for a similar period, possibly a bit longer (either sometime in 94 or late 93). It was a fax modem with 14.4Kb/s, IIRC.
No internet then, just BBSs.

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

I sometimes miss the noises they made!

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Heh. You also knew when the connection was going to be dodgy because the modem would whine even more horribly and longer.

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

That was actually quite useful! My connection was often dodgy.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Indeed!

[mrs-tubbs.livejournal.com]

And you could switch the darned thing off to reset it. That usually worked on ours.

Happy Birthday Modem btw!

[nickmurdoch.livejournal.com]

I still have a 56k modem! Admittedly I only bought it two years ago...

I envy your Internet longevity!

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

Santa better bring me an even better gift for Christmas this year.

[nickmurdoch.livejournal.com]

But what could top a connection to the latest usenet groups!

[squirmelia.livejournal.com]

Hmm.. a space rocket?

[nmg.livejournal.com]

Never owned a modem, though once used an acoustic coupler in 1988 or thereabouts.

[kiwi-dan.livejournal.com]

Online for the first time in Feb 1994... hard to believe we survived before the internet! Spent many hours using Gopher. The modem noise was so familiar you could sing it!

[grey-area.livejournal.com]

I still own my first US Robotics 56.6 modem. It would be interesting to try and hook it up to my current PC though because if I am not mistaken my current machine is lacking the serial port.

[solitarywalker.livejournal.com]

My first one was 2400bps. Probably around 20 years ago. But i don't still have it.

[tackline.livejournal.com]

A few months before I used my overdraft to get a 14.4k US Robotics modem and a Demon account.

[drrng.livejournal.com]

Merry Christmas, Mr Modem :)

[wintrmute.livejournal.com]

Sometimes it's surprising to think that phone lines have been around for so long, and don't appear to be going away.
I mean, they are such simple bits of tech, they don't work that well, and were never designed for what we do with them today.
Other than the modems, how many other bits of computer technology from 15 years ago would still be usable?