Apple Data Modem 2400

[CelGen]

It was a Craigslist find at $20. Came with everything but the box.

It's essentially a Smartmodem 2400 clone with MNP error correction and the ability to passthrough the serial port to another device. Technically I only needed the AC adapter which is an absolutely absurd female DIN5 plug at 14v 650mA because the Data Modem 2400 my IIfx has didn't have one. I don't think Apple ever sold a modem aside from the Apple Personal Modem (gotta find one of those) that didn't use some weird power connector.

 

[tanaquil]

Sweet, nice find!

I'm curious - does anyone out there still use a dialup modem? (I mean, I guess you do, since you were looking for the part for it...) I don't even know where one would dial up to, these days.

I used to have a USR 14.4 modem, I remember it fondly. It's long gone, in one of my very rare moments of actual getting-rid-of-useless-tech. Now I sort of wish I had kept it.

 

[CelGen]

I still actively use modems when I'm away. My ISP doesn't allow incoming connections unless I pay an extra $70/month for a business-level connection at the same awful 40/5 fiber speed but nothing says that for text-only services I can't dial in.

The SGI O2 in my bedroom has a SupraFAX hung off serial port 1 that I can remotely dial into for Lynx, mail, IRC and telnet/SSH into other machines. I wish I had a photo of it but back in June I borrowed a friend's Tandy 100 portable and his acoustic cups and from the Granville SkyTrain station I dialed in to ask someone for directions over IRC.

 

[joethezombie]

I personally haven't touched a modem (other than a fax machine) in several years.  I do remember reading quite recently that AOL alone still has millions of users on dialup in the US as of 2015.  I do know they are extensively used in network management for OOB access in the event the primary goes down.

 

[CelGen]

My ISP still has a dialup service for those who can't get their ADSL or fiber packages. My username and login has not changed in 15 years. Problem is that it's a PPP service so connecting with a generic terminal doesn't do much past the login. It assumes you run something like Windows or Mac OS and yes, a Powerbook 180 with the PPP extension and Netscape TOTALLY works.

 

[finkmac]

Nice, you really did get it.

Looks nice and clean, all that's missing is a picture of it in action!

 

[olePigeon]

I have the Fax version of that.  Interestingly enough, there's almost no information on the DataFax Modem.  I should probably upload some info on it.

 

[CC_333]

Our landline has been abandoned now, so I can no longer use dialup modems :,(

It might be fun to somehow set up a small exchange so I can like "dial" into another computer without actually going out onto the landlines.

Or is it possible for modems to dial each other without any telephone lines involved?

c

 

[CelGen]

Or is it possible for modems to dial each other without any telephone lines involved?

You've been able to do that since the Smartmodem. Take two machines with modems, one phone cable connecting both modems and one machine type

AT A <enter>

...and on the other...

AT D <enter>

Once the originating modem emits the carrier tone they will establish the link. The other option is to use a PBX so you can dial different phones or modems within the PBX network.

Modems also work on most VoIP lines these days albeit at slower speeds because most speech compression is terrible but really, are you gonna complain at 2400 baud?

 

[CC_333]

So, if I were to get, say, this service, which does not advertise dial-up modem compatibility (in fact, they explicitly say it won't work), there's a way to make it work regardless? This is assuming they use some sort of VoIP implementation, of course.

And, barring that, how expensive are pre-assembled PBX-es? Can I build one myself fairly easily with common components??

c

 

[CelGen]

Remember that a modem just turns the data into audible modulation. You're at the mercy of whatever voice compression codec the provider uses to make sure the carrier tone doesn't drift so badly it generates erroneous bits and the faster the modem speed the quicker the modulation and again, it's up to the CODEC to be able to differentiate between a difference in 200hz. I really can't recommend services. You'll have to ask someone more experienced than I am with this but all the bluetooth to cellular bridges I've used so far will NOT work.

I've always been told to get a Panasonic 308 PBX. They are a little old but supposedly cheap, plentiful and you don't need special phones to use it but while the CCTALK mailing list has said they are usually $20 each I've yet to see one for less than $100.

 

[Schmoburger]

I suddenly just got to feeling really old with talks of abandoned landline services and modems possibly not working... Hell, it seems like not that long ago I was still looking up pr0n0graphic images as a teenager in my bedroom at 2am with the volume turned down on my 33.6k external modem so as not to wake the parents or my young siblings.

 

[Cory5412]

And, barring that, how expensive are pre-assembled PBX-es? Can I build one myself fairly easily with common components??

I've got an Avaya IP Office Small Office Edition. The one I have supports eight digital extensions and four analog ones. Faxes work, so there's no good reason that dialing a data connection wouldn't work, although I haven't tried it myself.

I paid a bit under $300 for mine, and it included either five or six phones with it. In a much larger house, I'd actually do some structured wiring and use them for phones, but in my house, I'm basically using it as a surrogate to a normal home phone with voicemail.

There are a few other similar types of systems, Panasonic made a few, Nortel's BCM50 is another, and so on. I liked the Avaya because it has RJ45 ports on the front you can pretty easily adapt to RJ11 ports and just use without having to deal with structured wiring, RJ21/Telco 50 connectors, etc.

If you don't really need a phone system, there are definitely cheaper ways to get two computers talking to one-another using modems.

 

[finkmac]

From what I've learned about PBXs, they need to have analogue station ports to work with modems… So you're out of luck with most stuff.

You can, however, get an FXS PCI card, install that in a PCI and run Asterisk (PBX software) for the home-built PBX experience.

 

[Compgeke]

^ That's how I've done it before. I have a Digium TDM410 clone here setup to work with Asterisk and it works relatively well. Only issue has been some ISA Sportster modems hang up for "No dial tone", but ATX3DT rather than ATDT works fine on those.

 

[Cory5412]

The version of the IPOSOE that I have has four analog station ports, there's another version with no digital stations and eight analog ports, so there's some possibility, but you do have to hunt around.

Something like an IPOSOE or a Nortel BCM50 will probably cost you a little less than an FXS card a dedicated PC good enough for Asterisk, at least from what I've seen. The other challenge is that if you want to dial from one machine to the next, you'll need FXS cards with two ports, or two or more FXS cards, just dependingo n what you want.

The one thing I'd like to see is if you can configure an Asterisk box to directly accept dial-in connections from computers, so that instead of dialing into one another, they dial into the asterisk box as though it were your own little ISP.