What Is Dial-Up?

Date First Published: 8th May 2022

Topic: Computer Networking

Subtopic: Data Transmission Technologies

Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty: Easy

Difficulty Level: 3/10

CONTENTS

History

Learn more about what dial-up is in this article.

An internet connection that is established through the use of a modem is known as a dial-up. The computer is connected to standard phone lines and when a dial-up connection is made, the modem dials a phone number of another computer that is designed to receive dial-up calls. Several beeping and buzzing sounds occur when the connection is made.

Once the connection is made, the computer has internet access, which is active until the user disconnects from the ISP and is usually performed by the user selecting an option to disconnect in the software of the ISP or a modem utility program. The connection may also be disconnected by someone picking up the phone. Every time someone answers the phone using a dial-up connection, the internet connection will get disconnected, making it impossible for someone to browse the internet and for someone else to answer the phone at the same time. This is because dial-up connects to phone lines and it is not possible to use both services at the same time due to no microfilter. The caller may also get a busy signal if they try to call whilst someone is connected to the internet with a dial-up connection.

Note:

In order for a dial-up connection to be made, it is necessary for the modem to connect to an active phone line that is not in use.

History

In 1965, the first dial-up connection was made by Lawrence G. Roberts at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Dial-up was commonly used in the 1990s as a standard way to connect to the internet. However, dial-up provided slow speeds of only up to 56 Kb/s. In addition, there was a lot of hassle of constantly disconnecting and reconnecting to the ISP. However, it is still used when other technologies are unavailable or when the costs are too high. Dial-up was eventually replaced by DSL and cable modem connections, known as broadband connections. These offered much faster upload and download speeds than dial-up connections and were not interrupted by someone answering the phone or an incoming phone call.