A dial-up modem’s sound was a jumble of tones and static that almost felt alive, like two machines struggling to understand each other.
It would begin with a click and a hiss, as if a phone line had just woken up. Then came a long, steady carrier tone ... a flat, high beep that held steady for a second or two. Quickly, that tone would be broken up by bursts of sharp chirps, squeals, and warbling trills, rising and falling in pitch like an electronic birdcall. Some parts had a grinding, metallic quality, almost like electronic gears slipping against each other.
As the sequence went on, the sounds would shift back and forth between high-pitched screeches and lower, buzzing growls, with bursts of static layered over it, until finally the cacophony would settle into a faint, steady hiss ... the line’s way of saying the connection was established.
It was chaotic, shrill, and strangely rhythmic. A sound anyone who lived through it can recognize instantly, even decades later.
Click… hissss…
Bweeeeeeeeee—
Krrrrrr-krrrrrrrk!
Chee-chee-chee-eeeeeeeee!
Shhhhhhht-kreeeeeee-oooooo-ink!
Bwee-bwoo-bwoo-bwoo-eeeeeeeee!
Kkshhhhhh-tkshhhhhh…
…hisssssss… (connection achieved).
EDIT: Trying to remember ... think I used dial-up from 1996 (first personal computer) until about 2006 ... 10yrs maybe ... I think.
