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vintage modem to modern device alternative for Wireless usage

VERAULT

VERAULT

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Joined
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Connecticut, USA
So I have a couple Wifi modem variants and am pretty happy with them. They really brought me back to the days of BBS'ing. However without having a pots line in almost 20 years Having vintage modems is pretty pointless. I klnow most collectors feel that way. There are a few folks on youtube who collect and use old and very Ancient modems which is interesting.

It got me thinking. Besides the Wifi-modems, are there any devices out there or in the works which allow you to connect a conventional dial up modem to a device that essentially turns it into a wifi modem? For instance I have a Actrix Matrix Luggable CPM computer with a built in modem AND acoustic couplers built into it.download.jpg

It would be really great to use its onboard modem again.
Anyone else have thoughts on a device that could utilize an old dial up modem for modern usage?
 
I recall that you can connect most modems directly to each other without an active POTS line. So, you could could connect your computer modem directly to another external modem set to auto answer, then a null modem (with gender adapters?), and a then a wifi modem, I think?
see:
connecting 2 modems back to back
I would love to hear if this works!
 
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epooch said:
I recall that you can connect most modems directly to each other without an active POTS line. So, you could could connect your computer modem directly to another external modem set to auto answer, then a null modem (with gender adapters?), and a then a wifi modem, I think?
see:
connecting 2 modems back to back
I would love to hear if this works!
Click to expand...

This works, I did this back in the early 2000's just by splicing a 9 volt battery in the line between the two modems. There's no dial tone of course but as long as the two modems are Hayes compatible you can type ATA on one computer, ATD on the other and they'll connect.
 
Thats doesnt really relate to the questions I posed. I was referring to using old modems to connect to some sort of device which accesses your wireless internet. Im not interested in Hooking up two classic computers with two modems and a phone line when I could achieve the same thing with a serial cable and have better throughput. My thought was getting use out of these ancient modems in the same way the wifi modmes work, difference being the Wifi modems replace vintage modems altogether.
 
it seems to me if you could get a device that has a modem and wifi (like maybe an xp era laptop) you should be able to bridge those connections together. I'm not exactly sure how to do that, internet connection sharing?
 
Can you explain what a "wifi modem" does?

My Pooh brain doesn't correlate the two with regards to a dial up experience.
 
I was referring to using old modems to connect to some sort of device which accesses your wireless internet.
Click to expand...
I'm interpreting this as:
[computer/terminal]--->[serial cable]--->[physical modem]***>[wi-fi network]***>[The I N T E R N E T ]

In which case you are looking for a VoIP ATA that instead of connecting to the LAN over a cable is wireless.
I genuinely do not believe such a device exists because from the ATA to the internet it doesn't make sense to have the connection wireless unless you got an ATA with an integrated SIM card and you are running VoIP over WAN. Even that would probably REALLY niche for things like old call-in dataloggers and even then, there's no point emulating the phone line for the modem if the ATA can jsut be configured to face the logger as a hayes compatible modem and hey look, you got the Wifi-232, just with cellular instead of 802.11.
 
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Yeah I guess thats one way of looking at it.. Also internal cards come to mind. Keep in mind I have no need of actually dialing numbers.. Just using the modems for modulation of data...

Im talking mostly 8 bit machines.. The device would have to handle most of this.
 
I still think there might be some way to use a modem/modem connection to get into a semi-modern machine which could then relay your traffic to the internet via either wifi or ethernet. I'm not sure what software you'd need.

But I thought you wanted to do this on a machine that only has a modem (not a serial port), as I assume if you have an rs232 serial port you would use that without a modem at all.

For example I have a couple of PDAs that have built in modems but no serial port.
 
Divarin said:
I still think there might be some way to use a modem/modem connection to get into a semi-modern machine which could then relay your traffic to the internet via either wifi or ethernet. I'm not sure what software you'd need.

But I thought you wanted to do this on a machine that only has a modem (not a serial port), as I assume if you have an rs232 serial port you would use that without a modem at all.

For example I have a couple of PDAs that have built in modems but no serial port.
Click to expand...
But that defeats the purpose of my request. It would need to be a standalone connection.. Like a Wifi Modem. See what I am getting at is I dont want to have to throw away every sindle modem I have or come across as they will never see use again.. And I am at that point.. So I am thinking. Can these things ever be used again in a fashion like a wifi modem? I dont want to use a modern computer for this.. i want to turn on my old 8 bit CP/M Machine and connect,
 
VERAULT said:
i want to turn on my old 8 bit CP/M Machine and connect,
Click to expand...
Connect to what?

Connect how?

What does this mean?

I just don't understand what the expectations are.

Can you give me a fantasy session?

"I turn on my CP/M computer and then..."

and then...what?
 
Ever used a Wifi modem? I want the same experience through vintage modems. IF you havent used a wifi modem there are a bunch of videos out there that can demonstrate what the device does.

The same application of suites available for the wifi modem but through this non-existant device. IRC, TELNET, FTP, web browsing (yeah I know, hot debate on that one).

I apologize if the point wasnt made well in the first thread, I thought it was.

I am no hardware engineer, but off the top of my head this device would connect to your vintage modem. IT was be some sort of wifi-modem but it would have to modulate and demodulate the data to your modem. A completely unecessary middle layer.. Thats how I see it.
 
You want a Pi or blue pill that simulates a phone system, and also acts as the server? What I said above but in a single tiny package?
 
Essentially... yes. That is exactly what I am thinking.

Again the main use of this device is so you can still use ACTUAL vintage modem hardware... Going back as far as feasible I suppose. Even utilizing Baudot code for teletype (thats a secondary thought of course, I dont know if the device would have the necessary voltage).
 
VERAULT said:
Thats doesnt really relate to the questions I posed. I was referring to using old modems to connect to some sort of device which accesses your wireless internet. Im not interested in Hooking up two classic computers with two modems and a phone line when I could achieve the same thing with a serial cable and have better throughput. My thought was getting use out of these ancient modems in the same way the wifi modmes work, difference being the Wifi modems replace vintage modems altogether.
Click to expand...
My suggestion does what you want.
The issue that you will have with using an internal modem for your connection is that you will have to modulate and demodulate the signal going to the internal modem. Nobody makes a wifi 'modem' that does that because there is already a device you can use with it: an external modem. There is only one "computer" in my suggestion (besides the wifi modem which is probably more powerful than the vintage computer):
[vintage computer with internal modem] --RJ11 phone cord-->[vintage external modem]--DB25 null modem (+gender adapter?)-->[wifi modem] >[The I N T E R N E T ]

most external modems can be configured to auto answer, which connects you right to the wifi modem. Everything is designed to work this way, you just need to hook it up and configure it.
 
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VERAULT said:
IT was be some sort of wifi-modem but it would have to modulate and demodulate the data to your modem. A completely unecessary middle layer.. Thats how I see it.
Click to expand...
Connect a real wifi ’modem’ (“some sort of wifi-modem”) to an external modem (to “modulate and demodulates the data to your modem”) using a db25 null modem (+gender adapter?) and you have your thing. It should work.

Nobody does this because most computers that have an internal modem also have a serial port which would be much faster. But I could certainly see doing it for fun and to get some use out of the internal modem.
 
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