The Modem: Much More Than a Dial-Up Sound

56k. Nope, not your older brother's salary. Nor the number of spare buttons in your grandma's closet. It's the bitrate of one of history's most commercial modems

You might recognize this era of modem technology less by looks and instead by soundtrack. We listened to the "dial-up sound" when we raced home from school to check our AOL accounts; when we logged in to eye the Clinton-era stock market

In an effort to learn more about the modem than its overture, let's take a look at its uses, history and a teeny bit of tech specs

History

In 1958, the year the word "modem" was first used, the U.S. SAGE air defense system incorporated Bell 101 modems to connect remote air bases and control centers via dedicated phone lines. Its bitrate moved at a whopping 100 bits per second