Dial-Up Simulator

The whole soundscape is generated with the Web Audio API; no recordings are used. The simulator plays each phase of a real V.90 modem call in order:

• Dial tone — the classic 350 Hz + 440 Hz hum of an open line
• DTMF dialing — each digit is a unique pair of tones (that's how the exchange knew what you pressed)
• Ringback and answer — the remote modem picks up and whistles at 2100 Hz
• Handshake — both modems probe the line with chirps, then blast pseudo-random noise at each other to measure what the copper can carry
• Connected — blissful silence, a blinking carrier-detect light, and a glorious 56,000 bps of bandwidth

Once connected, an elapsed-time counter starts; remember watching that, worrying about the phone bill? For extra pain, the log estimates how long today's downloads would have taken at 56k.

You can embed this util on your own site as a widget. Adding ?embed=1 to the URL loads a compact version with just the tool itself; no header, menu, or documentation. Paste this snippet into your HTML:

Copy snippet Adjust the height to taste.