At work I have limited access to about 6 free US Robotics external 33.6 fax modems.
At first I was jokingly going to grab some as gag gifts for friends, but out of curiosity I checked ebay and they sell for around $30. WTF?!

Who buys these things? I even checked that people are actually buying them, not just putting them up for auction with no buyers. They do sell, many times, within the past few months.

They're similar to these, but black and also say it supports personal voice mail (model 1172).




Why do they still sell for so much?

I can think of two reasons:

1) Collectors

2) Replacements for antiquated systems that are critical but for some reason not upgradable.

Yah, that's about all I've been able to come up with. Legacy systems, or things that don't merit full broadband, such as credit card transactions and stuff. I guess it also might be a case of 'they don't make em like they used to'.

Trent, keep them, we'll need these when we have to set up Internet 2 aka Freenet.



THE FUTURE!!!

My dad is a water engineer and uses dial-up modems to contact gageing stations on rivers that measure streamflow...Why they still use this technology I do not know.

Fuck yah internet2! It'd start a dialup isp.

We had one on our phone switch until this year. It was to let the support techs dial in in case of a major issue. I don't think it was ever used in the many years it was in place.

Besides legacy systems there are still a surprising amount of people who simply cannot get internet any other way. At my cottage we have cellular internet only through a rather large antenna. Another km or two west and dial-up would be our only realistic option. Satellite internet sucks hard and costs way to much.

I could see people needing modems still, especially out in the country. But why specifically look hard for a 33.6 when the market is flooded with 56K. With this modem you also need to buy a separate modem cable and hook it up to a serial port.

I definitely could see legacy enterprise uses though. At my last job we had a phone line to office's router to dial to access it in a case of an emergency, but that still was using an internal expansion card in the router (Cisco). I've never attempted it, but a lot of cisco gear has a serial port, you might be able to config the router to use an external modem instead of an internal card which I'm sure costs more money.

external modems are quite common in power control software, at the office we have a system called an economizer. basically an electric use reporting system. at each site it uses the fax line to report back the data when it polls monthly.

as well traffic control systems often still have them as well

(plz delete, i'm a noob & not sure how to yet. thnx)

Posted by TheVicariousVadder Trent, keep them, we'll need these when we have to set up Internet 2 aka Freenet.

ah yes..the sound of my youth, and the reason my parents got $3500 in LD charges on my phone line when I was like 13..oops. gotta love those BBS's.

I do tech support for a cellular carrier in Canada and I frequently find people who are just getting off dial up and migrating to HSPA/GSM, seems so weird to me, but some rural areas still don't have access to anything but that. I would probably kill myself if I had to live with dial up again. <shudder>

Posted by MrMensa ah yes..the sound of my youth, and the reason my parents got $3500 in LD charges...

OUCH! Blue Boxing all the way, it was great while it worked.

Posted by MrMensa I would probably kill myself if I had to live with dial up again. <shudder>

I would be so hard switching back. Not only from being used to broadband, but just websites these days being designed for broadband too. I wouldn't want to see how long it takes to load a webpage on a modem these days.

Posted by trent I would be so hard switching back. Not only from being used to broadband, but just websites these days being designed for broadband too. I wouldn't want to see how long it takes to load a webpage on a modem these days.

hahaha oh sweet dear lord. I'm not sure if I have the patience to handle something like that. haha.

Posted by jacunda OUCH! Blue Boxing all the way, it was great while it worked.

hahaha yeah, ouch for the folks, but I'm sure it's paid off tenfold since they have access to 24/7 full technical support for their cellphones and pc's through me at no cost. ;) so i think it's fair to assume they got their $$'s worth. lol.

it has to be for maintaining ATMs and old credit card systems like you said...

That model was the first modem my family owned.

Posted by jacunda I can think of two reasons: 1) Collectors 2) Replacements for antiquated systems that are critical but for some reason not upgradable.

We had one of these in our head end. its only purpose was to communicate with a bank. :-\

I love the "Upgradeable to 56k!" sticker.

Legacy shit...we still have a bloody DEC PDP-11 going, so a dial up modem doesn't seem far fetched.

I do some electronics engineering and I can tell you they are the easiest fucking thing to interface a microcontroller with. Some Hayes commands go out (ANSI/ASCII) and you are connected to an end point. Remember, there does not have to be an internet connection, you can use these (and I used these) for PTP (point to point) connections. Just like everyone has said, they may still be used for remote telnet access to CPEs in case the main line (usually T1 and above) goes down.

Posted by Crypton I do some electronics engineering and I can tell you they are the easiest fucking thing to interface a microcontroller with. Some Hayes commands go out (ANSI/ASCII) and you are connected to an end point. Remember, there does not have to be an internet connection, you can use these (and I used these) for PTP (point to point) connections. Just like everyone has said, they may still be used for remote telnet access to CPEs in case the main line (usually T1 and above) goes down.

Like i said before, a lot of the younguns would be surprised to see how many are still in use. everywhere from traffic light controllers to metasys lighting and hvac controllers.