When did cellular dial-up Internet disappear?

[Tim Vasquez]

I ask this out of sheer ignorance -- how long has it been since chasers had to use dialup networking to an ISP via a tethered cell phone in order to get access? I actually remember doing this on chases back in 1997-98 with the computer's built-in modem. The dial tone, the touch tones, the handshake, and the inevitable disconnects.

After that I rarely bothered with cell phones, and while chasing with Bill Tabor in 2004, ouila, we were running around with broadband Internet. At least I think that's what it was; I'm guessing we were on the 1xRTT networks.

I'd be interested to hear any anecdotes or comments about the "old days" and when the transition to 1xRTT (or any interim systems) occurred. I missed the whole thing.

Tim

 

[Billy Griffin]

While I don't recall or even know if it's still impossible to use a dial-up service via cell phone, I do recall those "old days" very well. I can remember actually having an argument with the folks at Pioneer Cellular in Kingfisher, OK - when they and their techs told me it would be impossible to connect a computer to a bag phone.

I proved them wrong using one of those old Motorola black boxes, which allowed you to connect a fax machine, or in this case, computer, to the bag phone... something about that black box generated a "dial tone" and I was able to dial in to my ISP. I can recall speeds as slow as 4800 or less !!! Would take 5 minutes just to load a page, but heck, back then it was great to have data!

 

[Tim Stoecklein]

I can honestly say I used dial-up via the cell phone as late as last spring. Our home was in a rural area outside of Manhattan, KS where dial-up ISP was our only option for internet at home. I didn't want to pay for data services via my cell provider until I had a phone capable of EVDO, so I would just use my cell phone to dial into our ISP's number. It was on par with the 1xRTT speeds so I wasn't missing out on much.

Later in the early summer months, once I got a handset capable of using Alltel's EVDO network I picked up a data package. I still used the dial-up provider in areas where I didn't get EVDO coverage in the most rural areas of KS and eastern CO. I kind of miss having the backup of the "old school" dial-up....

 

[John Wetter]

I don't think I've used it since 1999-2000 or so? Back when The OsiTech King of Clubs modem and the Nokia 5165 with AT&T was THE setup! Now, it's all data on the Sprint/AllTel/Verizon network for me...

-John

 

[Brian Emfinger]

FWIW, A few months ago my local Alltel tower was having problems. After nearly a day the voice stuff was working again but the data remained off for several more days. Eventually, I got annoyed enough with not having internet that I decided to see if I could use dial-up through the cell phone. I had never done it before but it worked so good I decided to have this as another backup during chases (in addition to using the XM Wx on the Garmin 376c) for those places I run into that I have bars but it cant connect or it says invalid user name/pw. Its only 10$ a month and I actually used it on Jan 7 south of Tulsa when I got into a invalid user/pw crap area. It connected immediately and stayed connected until I knew I was back where the high speed worked. I ran GRLevel the entire time and honestly I forgot I was even connected to dial up. Good thing I happened to be in my unlimited night minutes.....

 

[Jay McCoy]

I don't think I've used it since 1999-2000 or so? Back when The OsiTech King of Clubs modem and the Nokia 5165 with AT&T was THE setup! Now, it's all data on the Sprint/AllTel/Verizon network for me...

-John

I remember those days quite well. I still have my card and cell phone. But ofcourse with the change coming on Jan 28th the analog phone wont work anymore. I used mine as recently as 2 years ago as a backup. Since then I have gone to Cingular/ATT but I wish I had gone with Sprint now that I have seen both in action. Sprint has better coverage in the panhandles and west oklahoma by far. I will say my phone bill has dropped tons since then also. During chase months I would have cell bills of $300-$400 easily due to minutes and data used. Now with the data cards and unlimited downloads its $60. I do miss the signal power though of the full 3watt bag phones.

Tim... It is easy to miss technology switches now since it changes just about every year. I remember days when the only way to dial in was at a truck stop or local convenience store where you begged the clerk to borrow the line for 5-10 minutes and maybe threw them a 5 spot. I also remember a time where there was no such thing as a cell phone or laptop. It was NOAA radio and a cb!! Nothing pissed you off more than to wait 5 minutes for a page to download and then right before it finished it would refresh and start over..uuugghh.

Chasing has become sooo much easier the past 10-15 years it isnt even funny. There is no comparison to back in the 80's. Nowadays its getting to be almost impossible to miss the storms with live radar and all the data you can want. sats, mesoanalysis, surface obs, etc..

 

[Doug Raflik]

Cellular connector interface. Thats what the little black box from Motorolla was called. It had 2 rj11 jacks, 1 on each side, and all it did was create a dial tone so the computer's modem (a 33.6 PCMCIA modem) would dial the 1-800 number from a service such as Prodigy or AOL. The box cost $300. Not bad for allowing radar updates in the feild in 1997. The problem was roaming fees. Back then you had to pay a $5 per day roaming fee for every tower you used. If you were not chasing, and were in say, Tulsa, and got online 20 times in a day, you paid $5 the first time, and then nothing but minutes off your cellular contract the remaining 19 times. Now while chasing, that is another story. If you were logging on 20 times in a day, you were more than likely hitting 20 different towers. At $5 per pop, that added up on a 2 week chase vacation. I first used this set up in 1997. I used it for data and such, but abused it since it was soooo damn cool to have the internet in my car parked in the middle of nowhere. I was "the cool chaser" all the time and was always glad to get online for you to check data. I knew it was going to be a pretty high phone bill but I had no idea. May's cell bill in 1997 was $1500!!! Obviously I used it more wisely after that.

Doug Raflik

 

[John Wetter]

All I remember is that dumb dongle from the modem card to the phone cost $70! You basically had to get a new one every year becasue at some point your knee would meet it and it was a flimsy little connector... Then you'd spend the next week after that chase with a tweezer and needle-nose pliers trying to get it to work again for those last few chases of the year.....

Yes, the phone bills. We complain about data costs now... My cell bill over-all has actually gone down a good chunk in the last 7-9 years and coverage and of course speed have gotten much better.

-John

 

[mrobinett]

I just threw out the Ositech modem I had, cost me 130 bucks back in the day! I tried selling it on ebay, no takers.
I am glad the internet and weather data access has improved over the years!

 

[Jason Foster]

Dial-up just won't die

Reading the replies, I'm shocked that anyone still uses dial-up. My current situation is to use data access via a pcmcia card in the laptop. If that should fail, I just try to find a wifi spot in town (super8 is always a sure bet).

But to answer your question, I last used it in 2003. Both Chris Collura and I were using it for log updates and such, but not too much in the field. I did have a Ositech, but never did get it set-up properly.

Both Chris and I had highly entertaining (to others chasing with us) tantrums regarding our unfortunate dealing with dial-up. In fact I cancelled my AOL membership immediately following the 2002 season, and didn't have much success with the other dial-up companies.

Here's a picture of us in 2002 using Dial-up

 

[Bill Tabor]

Tim, dial up networking still works. I tested mine just a couple of weeks ago. I still have my Ositech King of Hearts card, and Verizon service via dongle to Motorola 120e phone. The thing to keep in mind is analog via DUN no longer really works anywhere. Actually it never worked with my KOH card and that was one reason I bought it so I would have a dual analog / digital DUN option. I can connect that way DUN digital and also via USB dongle using Verizon's Mobile Office product connecting to Expressnet and Quick2 Net. Expressnet can be really fast 500K+ in some areas.

The advantage of digital DUN is that when I cannot connect in certain boonies where Verizon has no data agreement on cell towers I can make a 'voice' call through my ISP and still connect using Earthlink. This has helped me connect in many areas remotely when other chasers could not get connected. My connects using the V120e I have recently learned are only 1xRTT. Verizon now also supports EVDO - so I need to switch phones or get a new data card in order to take advantage of the much faster speeds.

I'm not sure how long the KOH and the DUN option will be useful. Nowadays digital cell coverage has really improved and is almost everywhere. I suspect there will be very few places now that I would actually have to revert to DUN, but it may be a good idea to have as an option for awhile.

I'm thinking of getting / checking out the Anynet mobile device, or I may go Altel as Mike Hollingshead describes for $25 flat fee a month or daily use as you go option.