Ran into an old friend who still uses dial-up sounds as his ringtone

He argued that the screech and hiss is actual internet history in audio form, not some sanitized GIF, and now I wonder if we are erasing too much by only sharing the visual time capsule stuff.

2 comments

2 Comments

eric_carr21h ago

Gotta point out though, the screech and hiss isn't really the raw internet. That noise was the modem handshake analog modems used to negotiate connection speed between two machines before they could actually send data. The real internet history in audio form would be the busy signal you'd get constantly trying to connect to a BBS at 2 AM because everyone else in town was already on it. Your friend's ringtone is more like a museum piece of the on-ramp, not the road itself.

oscarwright18h ago

Yeah, I gotta push back on that a little, @eric_carr. I get what you're saying about the busy signal being frustrating, but that screech and hiss was the sound of the door opening. That handshake was the whole deal. Without it, you ain't getting online at all. The busy signal was just a dead end telling you to try again later. That screech was the promise that you were about to step into something. It's not just a museum piece, it's the key to the whole thing.