Found this in the garage. Still sealed

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generaldis@reddit

In your garage? How do people accidentally put unused merchandise into storage then find it decades later??

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mcksis@reddit

Hook it up and power it on. Maybe you’ll get some faxes from 2004.

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Fine-Funny6956@reddit

That was a top notch modem at one point.

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Avery_Thorn@reddit

This is technically still a top notch modem, they didn’t really make any better ones after this for POTS.

These ones were really good because they didn’t use any of the host CPU cycles, all of it was handled on the modem. A lot of modems there towards the end used a bit of processing power from the host computer, and with a 486 there wasn’t much to spare!

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0EFF@reddit

They were all hardware modems early on, it wasn’t until CPUs were more powerful that they could replace some of the components on the modem with software, thus they were cheaper to manufacture. In reality, most modems made in the early 2000s were software based. While US Robotics was a popular brand and highly regarded, they were lower quality post year 2000s especially after the 3COM bought them out. This is an external modem made in 2004.

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PhotoJim99@reddit

The Courier modems never dropped off. They were good right to the end. Which, technically, still hasn't come as they are, as far as I know, still in production although I doubt volume is very high anymore.

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Avery_Thorn@reddit

It felt like the software modems were starting to come into play during the late 90s. By the early 2000s, most modems were mostly software, and even some of the external ones were more software based, but this one was still a serial port based one that had changed very little from the high end USR ones from the previous version. The “swoopy” 3Com USR modems sucked and were software based, but these were still good.

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CrazyTillItHurts@reddit

The external version of the modem was much better and more flexible

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LightStruk@reddit

As an external serial modem, it had to handle the processing in hardware. Maybe if it were USB the host CPU could have done the work, but these serial modems used the same command set and interface as the ones from decades earlier.

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Fine-Funny6956@reddit

Learn something new every day!

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victorsmonster@reddit

“Take incoming calls while online?” Were there really modems that could do this?

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Prestigious_Pace_108@reddit

Yes, V92 modems came with that capacity along with almost symmetric bandwidth. Your ISP side should support it as well, along with call waiting.

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victorsmonster@reddit

Damn okay. I remember seeing this advertised but I'd already moved on to early broadband by that point and assumed it was some kind of snake oil. In my experience that modem connection would break up if you so much as breathed on one of the phones in the house, lol

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Prestigious_Pace_108@reddit

The war for standards, 56K vs Rockwell X2 confused the hell out of people with the ISP/BBS guys choosing one of the standards. Until that fight got settled via ITU V90, people moved to xDSL/Cable modems.

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FlyByPC@reddit

The last and fastest generation of POTS modems. USRobotics was well-regarded.

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Prestigious_Pace_108@reddit

These were consumer grade US Robotics. The real gem was the Courier model. They could be upgraded from 33.6 to 56K via paid firmware update, they were that versatile.

What surprises me is their cheapness of not including a serial cable in the box. They were forcing consumers to buy the cheapest serial they can find and as this is a modem, small issues could easily lead to line losses.

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gcc-O2@reddit

What surprises me is their cheapness of not including a serial cable in the box. They were forcing consumers to buy the cheapest serial they can find and as this is a modem, small issues could easily lead to line losses.

Maybe they didn't want to account for DE-9 vs. DB-25 vs. MiniDin8?

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Prestigious_Pace_108@reddit

Back in those days people and the industry were kinda settled in the smaller DE-9. I think macs used the mini one though.

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gcc-O2@reddit

Agreed, but at least there was some logic to it, unlike printers coming with no parallel cable

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DefiantArtist8@reddit

Put on some trunks, we're about to go WEB SURFING

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fuelhandler@reddit

Load up Trumpet Winsock, and get ready for some modem breath!!! Cheeeerrrr… shhhh… arug… arug… beep, beep, beep!!!

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GezoutenMeer@reddit

IRQ 4, there I go!

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wes1971@reddit

Don’t forget about optimizing the init string!

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EsKetchup@reddit

Surfing USA!

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Steve_but_different@reddit

That's wild. I found a couple of these where I work, except they were in production and connected to live hardware. Safe to say, it's a pretty damn robust piece of hardware. Albeit pretty impractically slow by today's standards.

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wthulhu@reddit

Finally phased out our V92s with what's essentially a mobile Hotspot. Used them for access to the network switch when the internet goes down.

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Msinned@reddit

Here’s a project of mine - I test this modem against the Courier at the bottom.

TLDR: The Courier did edge it out at getting full line speed.

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foxwwweb@reddit

Enclosure looks like retro from '80s, but 2004…

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1leggeddog@reddit

I never even got a 56k.

Had a 28.8k growing up and then a 36.6 but moved on to dsl afterwards... Those last few years were hell

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Technical-Escape9596@reddit

I had that same modem, and set up a couple for some friends

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countjj@reddit

Yoooo that’s some baud damn good stuff

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iMadrid11@reddit

If you have two modems and a landline or amateur radio setup. You could setup a server where you can connect remotely.

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CookiesTheKitty@reddit

I remember when I bought a US Robotics Sportster with a whopping 14K4. I'd never seen such dialup speed. I'd contemplated ISDN but it really seemed overkill for mail and news.

How times have changed since then.

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stustustu_123@reddit

I always wanted one of the Courier HST modems they made. Real lovely looking design.

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bitwize@reddit

YES. Just what you need when your old internal modem goes kaput and the only ones they have at CompUSA are fucking WinModems.

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spanishpeanut@reddit

I had this thing! Never thought to use it correctly but I had it!

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One_Floor_1799@reddit

Time to dial up the BBSs!

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BigOlBearCanada@reddit

Back from when the internet didn’t suck.

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SupaDave71@reddit

I have one like that and a Creative Modem Blaster USB. I don't know why I still have them.

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cobra7@reddit

I still have a 300 baud phone cradle modem from waaay back. You dialed the phone yourself then placed it on the cradle.

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EXman303@reddit

I literally had one of those

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Consistent_Laugh4886@reddit

US robotics. Fond memories. Had me one of those back in the dial up days. Great times. This was fast and reliable for it's time. I was using a very nice red hat 2.0 something OS and just surfing on Netscape Nav enjoying life.

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mongo_only_prawn@reddit

Bing bong…..bing bong….

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BigBlackHungGuy@reddit

You can upgrade the mainboards on those and the Hayes smartmodem to do wifi. It will make the modem sounds and dial tones. I bought the hayes upgrade.

Hayes Smartmodem

https://tempestfpga.com/retromodem/

Sportster

https://tempestfpga.com/sportster/

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violator75@reddit (OP)

Yep

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mojorific@reddit

Neat find.