Dial Up Internet And Modem/network Card

[networker 0]

HelloI know this is a doofus question, but I was wondering, if I wereto switch to using dial up internet, would I have to use an exteriormodem? Wouldn't my Intel/pro 100 VE network connection adapter suffice? Thanks

[rob86 2]

Well, I don't know what an Intel Pro 100 VE Network connection adapter is, it doesn't sound like it'd work. You need some kind of a dial up modem, usually called a 56k modem. It doesn't have to be external, but an external one is probably preferred if you can find one. When I got this computer years ago, it didn't come with a dial-up modem, and I had to install it myself from my old PC. I'm really doubting most computers these days have a modem capable of dial up already installed. Depends how old it is. You didn't say what OS you use, but Dialup's relatively easy to get going, you just need a modem (that can be used with dialup), you need to know what the modem is, so you can download/install a driver for it. You need a connection to a phone line, of course. The hard part is finding the driver online if it didn't come with an installation cd . That's about it, then you use a dialer to connect to a phone #. Can you use your computer to make phone calls? If no, then you need a dial up modem. I think windows has a phone dialer, but I can't remember. It used to. When you use dial up, your computer is pretty much making a phone call. From what I hear, 56k modems are pretty cheap now if you do need one, since many people are switching to cable or dsl and selling the old modems on ebay.

Edited September 23, 2009 by rob86 (see edit history)

[networker 0]

I'm using windows xp. It seems hard finding these 56k dial up modems.I once tried asking about one in a future shop, and they said they didn't have any.

[dolrich06 0]

Try asking on shops selling old computers. What you will find mostly are PCI modems, I have one, you want?

[BuffaloHelp 24]

I was wondering when was I going to use this trivial information... ha ha ha.TigerDirect.com has USB to 56K modem adapter. At a price of $40 ~$50 or so, you can have external modem that uses USB. I saw two models to choose from.And I will not ask why you might need one. Just last month, I had to use COM port and purchased USB to Serial port converter (which cost me $80) because my laptop didn't have a serial port. An alarm software to program access codes required COM port to program. So even though it's long gone technology some programs are still depended on the old communication ways. In fact, I had to purchase external 33.6K modem in conjunction to remote program an alarm system. Who would have thought that I would spend $300 for this out dated, external modem? And only 5 modems were compatible with programming software... Unbelievable!