DialUp95 – A 90s inspired nostalgia hit

[gus_massa]

Somewhat related: Old post "The sound of the dialup, pictured" https://www.windytan.com/2012/11/the-sound-of-dialup-picture... (Biggest HN discussion https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15635144 | 675 points | Nov 2017 | 108 comments, and a few more discussions in https://hn.algolia.com/?query=The%20sound%20of%20the%20dialu... )

[adontz]

Oh, nostalgia. I had a US Robotics 56K modem, which produced two bell-alike sounds during handshake. It was cool. I search for that specific sounds for years and cannot find.

[hackernudes]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xalTFH5ht-k&t=99

This matches my memory of 56k dialup with the two BONGs.

And now I get to share my favorite AT command. M0 could mute the modem! M1 was quieter than the default. I will never understand why those weren't more common! Used like: ATM0DT

[BuildTheRobots]

I've also been searching for that double-bong for years.

Last time I asked, user hackmiester pointed me to https://goughlui.com/2016/05/03/project-the-definitive-colle...

The "Texas Instruments DSP based Modems" linking to USR-Sportster-bong-bong.wav is pretty close to what I remember.

edit: hackernudes reply is perfect. The youtube auto generated subtitles are pleasing too.

[flkiwi]

Me, before clicking: Man, I remember I had this USR modem that did this weird BONG sound during handshake. I wonder if anyone else in the comments remembers that.

Comments: YUP.

[deadbabe]

Sucks that we don’t have these kind of little rituals today. Everything is just always on. This kind of thing sounds like you were blasting off into the future, your day was divided between offline and online, and this was you crossing the barrier to the next world.

[breppp]

Amazing, however when I changed the number I expected an audio recording of some guy answering in the middle of the night over a modem negotiation sound

[anthk]

https://theoldnet.com and https://protoweb.org, try their proxy on legacy machines and have fun travelling in time.

Also: https://wiby.me

[weinzierl]

After getting excited that you could change the phone number the fact that it did not beep it was a little let down. I wonder if the shown default number matches the number in the audio at all?

Anyways, cool project and I like the easy to remember domain.

[vunderba]

Nice job. I saw something like this a little while ago [1] which showed the Hayes AT-DT command but otherwise was pretty limited. Don't forget to use the Network tools to throttle your connection for a more faithful experience!

Feedback:

- The click sound is absurdly loud.

- Is 31,200 bps a UK thing? I grew up in the era of 14.4, 28.8, and 33.6 kbps.

- You should chop up the audio file so the number of tones matches the number of digits in the phone number field.

[1] - https://dialupmodemsound.com

[fobispo]

The change to authentication happened before the modem negotiation ended, this should be fixed, all it need it's a short delay until the audio ends, and THEN start auth.

[therealmarv]

it felt suddenly expensive to be online again...

[robputt]

For me it brings back a time when the internet felt more personable. Everything these days is boring, Facebook profiles, Tiktoks and Instagrams all look the same. We need the personal days back where people put their heart and soul into building their geocities page. Where you never knew what you'd find next when you press the next link on that web ring.

[acidburnNSA]

Very nice!

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't the lights of the icon computers light up for transmitting and receiving?

[robputt]

Yes, in the Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP notifications area of the taskbar - https://www.computerhope.com/issues/pictures/windows-98-task...

[stack_framer]

The AOL version missed an opportunity: After connecting it should have said, "You've got mail!"

[robputt]

It does, maybe try again, the MP3 may have failed to load in.

[edm0nd]

it 100% does already

[jannelammi]

I’ve tried to explain my kid how we went online back in the days. Need to show this to her.

[RedShift1]

About 15 years ago I gave some networking courses at a local education center, it was all young kids (18-20 years old). When I told them that the speed we got back in the day was 4 kilobytes per second (56k on a good day), they didn't believe me at all.

[anta40]

Ah good old dial up days in early 2000s. Browsing means the phone cannot be used for calling.

:)

[mmaunder]

So good. But 31kbps? Wow. You guys were spoilt. 28.8 is the best we got and on a very good day when the lines were nice and dry. I think he even nailed the link upgrade sound on the modem.

[robputt]

My first interaction with the internet was an old Windows 3.1 machine with 14.4kbps modem, then we upgraded to a Windows 95 machine with 28.8kbps and later we swapped out the ISA modem for a PCI 56kbps modem. Then ADSL came along and the rest is history. Presumably the modem in this example is a 33.6kbps V.34 modem which had a slightly lower sync negotiated due to a poor line.

[snihalani]

I don't know if this was an indian thing but we'd get a dopamine hit type tone at the end and that's not present in this audio.

[iberator]

i was expecting web browser after dialup :(

[robputt]

Sorry, maybe in V2

[drsalt]

i don't know if its the mandela effect but the sound is not accurate.

[robputt]

I think it varied by modem model and maybe also the type of telephony system in your country. This sounds faithful to what I used to hear in the UK.

[atmanactive]

Sounds totally accurate to me.

[c2xlZXB5Cg1]

I need to press "Stop" before all images fully load

[randall]

I wanted the AOL one to say "Welcome" before "you've got mail!" lol

[nizbit]

Guess I don’t have any mail :(

[blashyrk]

Great

Just needs a pulse dialing option ;)

[andrea76]

This is a masterpiece

[robputt]

Thank you :-)

I am tempted to add additional OS / dialers.

[fanatic2pope]

Now do minicom and pppd!