Not “just” dial-up, but the old acoustic coupler style where you had to put the handset on the big ol’ box.
This was because phones were hard-wired. The wires didn’t have those nice little snap-in plugs like they do now. You couldn’t just go and buy a telephone. The phone company owned the phone and if you needed a new one (your choices were wall mount and desk-mount – only one style of each but a couple of colors) the phone guy came to your house to change it for you.
thirdguy over 10 years ago
God really needs a better connection than dial-up!
Meh~tdology, fka Pepelaputr over 10 years ago
So, we should’ve blamed Oliver for “Challenger”?
biglar over 10 years ago
Not “just” dial-up, but the old acoustic coupler style where you had to put the handset on the big ol’ box.
This was because phones were hard-wired. The wires didn’t have those nice little snap-in plugs like they do now. You couldn’t just go and buy a telephone. The phone company owned the phone and if you needed a new one (your choices were wall mount and desk-mount – only one style of each but a couple of colors) the phone guy came to your house to change it for you.
Sisyphos over 10 years ago
I see the hand of Oliver Wendell Jones in this NASA affair.
stephensalaun over 10 years ago
Does anybody even use dial-up modems any more?
markmoss1 over 10 years ago
There were better connections, e.g. T1 (1.544Mbit/sec), but only government agencies and major corporations could afford the monthly bill.
cccare56 over 10 years ago
@Meh-thodology – I have a cordless phone set, but still have an old corded phone. If the power goes out, they don’t.