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Is the analog phone modem on its way out?

Have recently noticed that a lot of the newer laptop and netbook units coming out this year have skipped the once obligatory analog phone modem.

About a decade ago, that RJ11 port is one of the most important ports you need when connecting to the internet as dial-up modems were the norm.

Today, that has been mostly replaced by the LAN port and WiFi. Maybe that’s the reason laptop manufacturers have oftentimes skipped this port in the newer models.

There are still a number of ISPs today that cater to the dial-up market (ISP Bonanza comes to mind) and for others who are already on DSL, they might still use the port to directly hook up to the phone lines. Of course, most DSL providers already offer routers along with the subscription.

The analog modem might still have its place in desktop computers but in laptops and netbooks, skipping the port could be deemed a space-saver. IMO, the analog modem has that same awkward position as the Bluetooth, only much more evident.

Personally, I can’t remember ever using the analog modem for a long time now. Anybody out there still on dial-up?

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Avatar for Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

16 Responses

  1. Avatar for erwin erwin says:

    i miss the noise i makes when dialing up ^_^

  2. Avatar for Paul Paul says:

    still have this type of port on my sony vaio. it is still a very useful port especially in the aftermath of the storm last September-October 2009 when DSL service went kaput in my area and electricity was also unstable.

    i used the pldt vibe service which is default in all pldt lines.

    i needed to use the service especially to file photos and stories for the web.

  3. Avatar for paul e. paul e. says:

    i still use dial-up for chat/ym applications. if you’re a pldt landline subscriber, you can have unlimited internet access using pldt vibe.

  4. Avatar for quake quake says:

    @nightcrawl:

    ….ah ok….ok k na….hahahaa!

  5. Avatar for nightcrawl nightcrawl says:

    @quake

    hahaha you are the most helpful tech support in they world! show those bastards that you are earning so much that you can share your call with the whole world that’s normally confidential and you can mock them for being as ignorant as you are. unprofessional d%&k

  6. Avatar for fregvre fregvre says:

    no segway upselling here plz.. LOl :)

  7. Avatar for PopTheCorn PopTheCorn says:

    noooooooooooooooooooo… I still need it for connecting to remote computers/servers.

  8. Avatar for Herce Herce says:

    The analog modem should be dead, but it can;t be in the Philippines because our business are still too backwards.

    You forget that faxes require an analog modem (even in a fax machine there is an analog modem). In Singapore and KL they have almost fully replaced faxing with email. Of course in the US and EU faxes are a dinosaur, so in those places, yes, the fax modem is dead.

    However, not here, and one of the main reasons for this IMO is the overblown prices companies must pay for computer equipment. In Singapore, even a small company has a mail server and every employee has access to a computer. Here, even larger companies (for instance a car dealership) has only a few computers that are used by many people.

    The reason for the high prices in our domestic market is due to may sources. The price fixing done by the limited number of distribution companies who have agreed to keep product prices artificially high, for one. The ridiculous VAT tax classifying all tech and computer equipment as luxury.

    However the main problem is CUSTOMS! The corruption, the incredible bloated and insane duties, the logistical nightmare in importing. The lack of infrastructure to move goods easily and cheaply to the Philippines all create an environment that destroys competition!

    If everyone reading this blog had a choice to buy products via the internet and could get them here in a hassle free way (and that includes paying lawful and fair! duties), no one would buy from local stores. If that happened, then the local market would be forced to compete and remote the artificial price fixing scheme they have established.

    To prove my point, why does buying something from PC Bodega cost the same as buying it from PCx (margin of error around only p100)? Yet when you shop in Singpaore, one store in Singapore/KL/HK/Shanghai/Bangkok can be 10-50% more or less than its neighbor?

  9. Avatar for quake quake says:

    …..i work in a callcenter as a tech support and yes till now dial up do still exist NEW ZEALAND to be exact..i had a call na till now i cant forget…sabi ng customer…where m i calling from…then i answer back…manila phillipines…sabi b nmn sakin yah right do u know dial up…its an internet connection…do you know what internet is…sabi ko nmn yes and umfortunately we dont have dial up here anymore because even the rural place can get broadband wit unlimited use and thats what you cant have in you country…ahahahaa

  10. Avatar for Teknisyan Teknisyan says:

    I really cannot see anyone using dial up these days, since the almost all sites now are mix of videos, pictures and text. Which will really make your surfing very very frustrating even if you are connection speed is more than 53 kbps. Still keeping a dial connection as a back up is not a bad idea.. specially if you need to send that every so important email.

    One thing that I hope from these Broadband provider will do is to comeup with a prepaid DSL Connection or cable. Since 99.99% of our phone lines are DSL ready, I don’t see any reason why they don’t want to do that. If you can see, Smart revenue comes mostly on prepaid subscribers. Same as with the Cable provider.

  11. Avatar for squishy squishy says:

    Modem ports are still very useful, considering that majority of offices still rely on fax services. Many companies prefer receiving cost estimates on fax machines.

  12. Avatar for Jhay Jhay says:

    I still keep my dial-up modem as an emergency way of getting online whenever Globe Broadband goes kaput!

    Then again, I have Globe Tattoo for that purpose especially now that the 3G signal has improved in our corner of Cavite.

    Though the sound of a dial-up modem ‘mating’ with the ISP’s servers sure does bring back fond memories from my high school days.

  13. Avatar for manaka_junpei manaka_junpei says:

    gagamitin ko na sana yung Analog Modem sa BBSing like Livewire BBS is still alive and kickin’, baka hindi na, naka-Windows 7 na ako, hindi ako maka-Hyperterminal at DOS Communication software sa ngayon, nakatago pa rin ang 56k V.92 Analog Modem na huli kong ginamit noong 2008 nang magpasya na kaming mag-DSL, pero buhay pa rin ang Livewire BBS, malamang gagana pa rin ang driver para sa Analog modem sa Windows 7 sa ngayon…balikan natin ang BBSing days…kung saan nagsimula ang File Transfering days ko

  14. Avatar for IC DeaDPiPoL IC DeaDPiPoL says:

    would prefer it to remain but unfortunately most modem chipset refuses to support GNU/Linux (with a paid driver being sold that demo at 14.4kbps speed).

  15. Avatar for jangelo jangelo says:

    I still use it for fax. Some companies still prefer fax for receiving letters and documents. I guess that’s on its way out, too, but maybe not in the near future.

  16. Avatar for Doc Harry Doc Harry says:

    Geez! I didn’t even know that there were some people who still used analog modems! Although PLDT still has Vibe on their menu of services…

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