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Sound of the dialup modem explained

bialasiczek · 512.5K views · 2013-01-30 · 1:14

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Overview

A short animation that pairs the sound of a dialup modem handshake with a graphic explaining what each phase of the sound means.

On Hacker News

Shared in dial-up nostalgia threads as a way to both hear and understand the handshake.

Discussed on HN; no positive recommendation is recorded in this export · HN mentions 2017–2025

Topics

Networking & internet infrastructureAudio & video engineeringInternet culture & memes
Search by tags
dialupmodemhandshakeretro internet

What people said

tcbawo · 2025-12 · Reference

The dial tone was prior to dialing. Upon connection, there was an audible sound from the modem handshake. Through some google searches, I came across this recording: [VIDEO]

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gregsadetsky · 2025-08 · Reference

I like this explanatory graphic (after many many years of listening to the dialup sounds) - [LINK] And this version combining the graphic and the sound used to make the graphic: [VIDEO] And this alternative version (h/t @Kye): [LINK]

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muxator · 2017-11 · Reference

3d spectrogram: [LINK] Animation of the picture illustrated in this article: [VIDEO] If you live with someone >= 30, turn up the volume and wait for him/her to appear at the door for a nostalgia moment...

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Sources

Video by bialasiczek, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

HN summaries and labels may contain AI errors. HN dates refer to discussions, not video publication.

HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

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