The Sound of Connecting

Back before your connection was always on, the modem was a doorway. You would open a terminal program, enter a phone number, and listen as the modem dialed. If the line was free, another modem answered with a strange series of tones. Those noises were the modems negotiating how to communicate.

The next screen might be a colourful ANSI welcome banner, a prompt for your handle, and a list of message boards and downloadable files. Many BBS systems ran from ordinary home computers and had only one telephone line, which meant only one caller at a time.

A friendly SysOp and a lively message conference could turn a local BBS into a genuine community. Some boards charged subscriptions or ran multiple phone lines, but many were free hobbies sustained by time, curiosity and telephone bills.