I worked for BT in the UK. The first Modems I dealt with back in 1969 had a maximum speed of 200 bits per second and was the size of a small microwave.
Lady Not many woman there back then. When i was born, we still used them for BBS services, used them till 1994. the Original Altair modems, meant for timesharing.
Dialback has another feature beyond security. It also reversed the charges for long distance. This allowed remote workers to dial in from home, then work would call them back and pay for the phone call.
I ran a BBS on the previous generation, the courier HST. I actually had a beta model of it that USRobotics sent me before they were available to the public. It had a gold plate on top that said “Not for resale”. All they asked for were the diagnostic logs of incoming callers to the BBS. they were very interesting times.
I've been dreaming about this modem in my teen years (1997 - 2003). Never had it. It was insanely expensive in Russia for me and my family. I had Zoltrix 33.6K int. and later Acorp 56K Ext.Then came cable internet... U.S.Robotics Courier was a symbol of reliability and speed.
Same here! As a kid, my friend's father was a salesperson for HP and I remember seeing a USR Courier box in the back of his car. I was so jealous, but then it turned out it was for a customer and not my friend, which was even more disappointing as that meant neither of us got to experience it.
Yes! So expensive! I won mine from a drawing in some business magazine, I still think probably noone else sent in their details for the drawing. Before that a horrible creatix fax modem.
For the carrier dropping right after connecting, is the other terminal program doing something with DTR? I remember from back in the day lowering DTR would disconnect the call (as opposed to. +++ then ATH0 maybe?) I think you can configure it with an S register.
Why is watching some guy spend half an hour dialing a Y2K modem *so* fascinating? Why?? Lock me away now.... with a PC and phone line a Courier Biz modem. 🙂
Back when I ran a BBS, another sysop said "that Courier will connect to a tree and hold the connection, if it has to" and he was only slightly exaggerating. I didn't own one at the time but I own one now. Wish I had it 25 years ago.
The days of the early internet in the 90's were magical - back then you actually needed special software to surf the web. Mysterious, unchartered territory is the best I can describe it.
Started out with a 2400bps that came with the family 386, and finally convinced the folks to upgrade to a 28.8k Zoom. It was quite a while before I got my own Sportster 56k. Like you said: Couriers were unobtanium for mere mortals.
USR Courier was great but the Telebit TrailBlazer was the GOAT of modems. PEP multiplexing could get this thing to 18432 bits per second when most modems were at 2400, fancy ones were 4800 and 9600 was just starting to come out. It had hardware protocol spoofing that supported UUCP, XMODEM, YMODEM, SDLC and Kermit later.
That ping reminds me of playing Quake2 online against ISDN hpbs. Managed to swap my sportster at work for one of these when a server using the courier was decommissioned. It was still faster than sharing the 128k ISDN Proxy Server with 3000 employees..
The best thing about the Courier was that it just.. existed. Drivers? Software? RS232 and AT command set, bud. That's all you need. I had at one point four modems on one machine playing with teaming, and the courier and the sportster were the only ones that didn't cause problems.
That's true of every external modem. It's just a serial device. It was common for whatever programs one used to need an "init string" for your specific modem, 'tho in most cases there wasn't much to customize.
The lights on the front from my memory (honest) ... HighSpeed, AutoAnswer, CarrierDetect, OffHook, ReceiveData, SendData, DataTerminalReady, ModemReady, RequestToSend, ClearToSend. Not 100% sure of SYN and ARQ 30 years later... But I knew them at the time! :)
These things were the gold standard.. I had Courier HST Dual Standard, looked the same. There was a free flash update that I believe brought it up to this V.Everything iirc
Holy frell, that user manual is so full of typos it makes the "manuals" of cheap AliExpress knock-off products you can buy for a buck or two look like the Merriam-Webster. Oof.
I had somebody give me an ISDN modem when I was still pretty much a kid - they said it was way faster than any other modems so I couldn't figure out why it would never connect at higher than 19.2Kbps. It was years later that I finally found out what ISDN was and why I never got it to run at the 128Kbps they said it would run at - but since I didn't know that back then (and all I had were local BBS, not 'the internet' as it is now) I ended up tinkering with just about every setting that modem had trying to get it to run at what I thought it's speed should have been.
I just wanted to point out that you have got the concept of call back security completely backwards. The call back function is not part of the security it's self, but rather the security is there to protect the call back function. Business men out in the field would need to call in to their company computers and to avoid long distance charges from the remote phone. The remote would call in to make a request for a connection, give the call back number of the remote phone and just hang up (Making the call from the remote phone as short as possible.). The company computer would then call the remote number and the company's computer would get bill for the long distant call and the remote would get the call for free because it was being received. This was very handy for calls being made from a pay phone, because if you make a long distance call from a payphone, the operator would cut in now and then asking for more money and that would not go well for a modem connection. The call back security that was implemented in the hardware of the modem was to prevent spoofing or "man in the middle" attacks.
I had a Sysop Courier modem back in the 90s when 16.8k HST was the new hot thing. Been recently playing with a pair of Couriers going through SPA122 MTA to a remote dialup bbs on the SFWEM AREDN network. Crazy but it works!
Yep, I remember getting mine via the Sysop deal years ago as a teenager. It was a dual standard 14.4k with a daughterboard upgrade to run 16.8K and later firmware upgraded to 56K. Thanks to that daughterboard it gave me the ability to do firmware upgrades to add more features and speed. This is actually my first firmware upgradable device in the 1990s. I still have the modem. 😁
@@Darkk6969 Nice... wish I still had my original sysop modem though I want to say my daughter board was only the 20mhz one so it couldn't do v.90 or v.92. anyway.. I hope yours is worth some real money in 20yrs! ;-)
I have a pair of these. I am wanting to setup a BBS and a dial up internet connection in my home network. Once the new house is finished, this is a winter time project of mine. Thanks for these nostalgic videos!
I still have a couple in a box somewhere that I'd previously used for OOB management. Those things could get a stable connection over 2 tin-cans and a piece of wet string.
Hi, you mention about SIP (VoIP) call to ISP - may you please share your experience with ? I have 2811 -> AS5300 full of MICAs and call via SIP USR Courier -> DLink ATA -> SIP 2811 -> AS5300 are horrible 40000/9600 with lot of retrains vs 53k/31200 courier -> vic-4fxs 2811 -> AS5300. I'm looking for ATA with best possible jitter control.
I SO lusted over USR modems. My first modem was a 14.4 winmodem from some unknown company, was a POS, error detection and correction was SW based, so wasn't available in DOS unless you were running windows. Saved up all the money I could and got an internal USR Sportster 33.6 modem. It was SO much nicer to use, but ironically had a firmware bug that caused it to freeze. So I had to RMA the darn thing, TWICE!! Still, once I got one without the bug I used it for many years without issue. Eventually found a used external Courier v.everything modem, this was at the end of the modem days, but it was glorious to use. Then I went DSL and my modems all collected dust.
Thankyou for this video. I went from 2400 to 14.4k and stayed there for YEARS until I got this exact modem - way too late... Broadband DSL was just around the corner; I'd of loved to have a v.92 right when they came out man!!
US Robotics on ETSI I should make my own video, how we made them work, and how we updated the offiicial firmware. Needed for PABX and public switches. They owned Gandalf a lot, we made them all compatible.
j got this modem way back when, took a lot of begging and saving and getting As in classes before my parents would buy it for me. When I started, it was a 28.8K modem., It came with a free firmware upgrade for 33.6K. Later on it got the 56k x2 upgrade (when it was between x2 and k56flex), and finally an upgrade to v.92. Still have it. Didn't know they were still around until my old work upgraded to gigabit internet and the ISP put in a media converter and a phone line. The phone line plugged into a Courier that was connected to the console port of the media converter. These are features that aren't on my Courier. And what's with the massive number of typos on the document for Dialback Security?
I bought 1 of those from eBay in 1999 or 2000 I think. I don't remember if it came with the CD. I was mostly using Linux. I never used the call back feature.
After your videos on the 90s ISP series I knew I had to get all this stuff just to get my mom's USR V.90 Message back up and running! I would have loved to be around during that awesome era. BTW, I'm also getting a USR Courier :)
I got an earlier version of one of these during the compuserve era. I think 14.4k maybe, when I bought it? Over the next few years, multiple firmware updates took me all the way up to 56k. Any other modem brand would have had to be replaced multiple times. It was awesome, and well worth emptying my bank account for.
I had 4 of those on my bbs.. had zoom 9600's prior. The main problem with them was you could never get 56 on naked phone lines. You needed a different service. they were limited to ~48k
What a beautiful modem! Those were the ones seen in magazines, the one my family had was a boring internal modem! It looks quite a bit bigger than expected 👍
Thank you for the USR everything review. I have the USR 58k v92 modem like that. But, not v. everything. Tons of people had those External Sporster modems. I hated USR. One reason if the ISP was using USR modem rack (from my understanding USR was almost giving away modem racks.). You had to either use a USR modem or find one that was good enough. Oh and I tried a internal hays modem and had issues with higher speeds. The next reason was standards. k56flex from Rockwell was used as almost everything. Except USR who used X2. (I hope I remember this right.) So instead of giving in they went and pushed for a standard. Thus, V.90 was born. Years later I found out about V.92 but I was already depending on what year DSL or Cable.Now, I do have to give credit on the V. Everything. Between modules, and firmware upgrades after the initial purchase price. You saved good. I can't remember but, you had some strange non-standardized speeds. 110, 300, 600 (not really used or skipped. I can't remember.) 9600, 14.4 28.8 33.6 (I swear something in this spot then 56k Though maxed at 53k? Anyway please add or correct any mistakes. On final note. The place I worked at did the homework and it was funny replacing out brand new modems with high quality modems that we know worked with the local ISP. We contacted them to get a list (or make a list.). Like now when you get a DSL or Cable modem list. Oh and plug in play when you rebooted the machine and the software could not find the modem.
600 baud was never a thing. It went from 300 to 1200, then 2400. If you had 2400 in the BBS days you were cruising, "styling and profiling" as it was called, and often received preferential treatment by BBS's (even specific dedicated 2400-only phone numbers). 9600 I only ever saw internally within a network, that was the speed a terminal interacted with multiuser minicomputers like the Alpha Microsystems AM100 & AM1000 or mainframes such as a VAX. DSL pretty much bypassed that speed for dialup. The standard step you were looking for after 33.6 was 48k. Actual speeds could vary. Using a 56k modem on a DSL dialup, I saw reported transfer rates like 43,000 and 45,333 baud. Best performance I was ever able to squeeze out of that hardware/provider combination was 53,333 baud (middle-class/bougie neighborhood of urban area, within 1 mi. of telco switching center)
@@xheralt I had a 2400 baud modem towards the end of the BBS era. I also had a 14.4, 28.8 and finally a 56k. This is going to drive me up the wall though. I decided to check modem speed. I know they have a list of certified stuff. I thought of a speed of say 19.2 or something like that. Mostly say USR / firmware upgrades. That was not a standard. Currently I'm deep diving into T1 circuit with things like ISDN, PRI, BRI, etc. I like to play with legacy phone systems and thus, having a small T1 circuit with pri channels. Works great between them and a Cisco router.
USR wasn't "giving them away". There were cheaper options out there. USR made some of the best modem tech ever. Yes, the 56k war was a dark era where ISPs dictated what modem the user would need. Luckily, it didn't last long for v.90 to settle it. Having been the network engineer for an ISP in those years, USR's modems were the least problematic. And I've tested / used boxes of non-USR modems with USR TC modems. (those "quads" are 4 couriers on a blade.)
@@jfbeam The only other few things I remember is one company was using a non usr modem bank and then you had firmware upgrades to modem banks that would roll out and do some strange things. I remember at least once getting tons of calls about modems having a hard time connecting. Lucky I was able to call the ISP and find out what was up. Just remember selling tons and tons of modems. Mostly used modems you could disable plug n play on and also would have a certain chip on it. I want to say Rockwell. Sort of like generic sound cards. Some was great and other was garbage.
The most satisfying modem for sure. Just from the relais click when you turn it on. I used to buy those on computer flea markets etc, apply 56k upgrade and sell them again. Only time ever i earned money selling stuff. Ofc all spent on other cool hardware. I kept one Courier-i for memories over many years. Because it was the absolutenpeak of that technology.
Nobody ever turned off the speaker. They believed it was supposed to screech and squeal in order to connect, even though it was sending that signal on wires rather than acoustically. The sound was really only necessary for debugging. I always turned mine off and trusted that it was connecting. If I had connection problems I could turn it on to make sure the number I was calling was a modem and not a person answering a voice line, but I could even do that by picking up a nearby phone to listen as it dialed out, or I could dial the number myself to check and see. That screeching sound is like the VCR flashing 12:00 because nobody bothered setting their clocks. A petty annoyance that people just don't bother fixing.
I still have one, with the original power supply and manual, but not the box. I bought it when I was in college. I obviously haven't used it in many decades, but I've no desire to get rid of it.
@@TheParallelPort i know the software upgrade went pretty far back but I'm not sure on specifics. I have one of these for a dial in node on a bbs I still run. Love em!
@@TheParallelPort Yep. Mine have a special daughterboard that I had to get from USR to give me the ability to do software upgrades. Real slick feature in the 1990s. I still have this modem!
I am torn on how to feel about this. O1H, that was a unique feature. Usually, when you needed a faster modem, you bought a faster modem. That's just how it was done. OTOH, there wasn't a lot that was technically different. It was all DSP. Why weren't modems ALL upgradeable after, like 14.4K? That said, you easily paid for two or three modems when you bought a Courier, so I guess they got theirs either way. Maybe if other manufacturers charged a nominal amount to buy the upgrade, and tied it to the serial number (because otherwise, of course it would be pirated), we could've all had nice things. My mind just rallies back and forth between "that is sooo cool" to "why wasn't this just a thing for everybody???"
OMG. I worked on these back in the days... I am surprised you still have a POTS line to use this 😅 The folks that designed the chips in these are all retired!
@@khx73 Would be interesting to see how the in-box docs say to use it. I don't see it as useful on any of the cords. The frequencies it would block are well outside range of the telco network (thus "modem noise".) DC power won't matter. And the serial cable? Just. No.
In the late 90's early 2000's I had a 56k modem and we lived in a new subdivision in Australia, it would connect at 53.333kbps or on a slow day it was 52. something. Original Counter Strike me and a mate using LAN internet sharing we could both get 180-220ping in CS on the same server. 'Good old days' Cheers for the great video mate.
When I was in HS I decided I wanted to be an engineer and work for US Robotics. Well, I became an engineer, but USR was gone by the time I graduated. Just as well... I got a better job.
I've pulled so many of these, new in box, from corporate data rooms where AT&T provided one for out of band management of their equipment, but were never hooked up. Thanks AT&T...
Ferrite beads filter out high frequency interference such as might be picked up when the cable acts as an antenna (or transmitter) on the phone line loop at the ferrite..
I never thought that dialback security procedure would take up one minute. Shouldn't it switch to another number in shorter time frame, e.g. 30-40 seconds?
And they did every step of the way. Hayes invented the "AT Command Set", but USR modems were affordable and useful to consumers. ('tho I'll give "case design" to Hayes. That aluminum shell is nearly bulletproof.)
So close. You _almost_ have the best modem ever made. You really want the USR Courier V.34 Dual Standard modem. It is the GOAT of modems. It was freely upgradeable to v.92 and also supported the HST protocols. When V.90/V.92 was finally released, it was faster than HST, but the Dual Standard modem supported both. More supported protocols = technically better. Also, the Dual Standard was far more expensive than the V.only models.
The model number shown in the video *do* support HST protocol. Refer to bitly link 4bzDMg9 (I entered the direct link in my original reply and it got censored) which is the spec sheet archive for that model, and it clearly indicates that this model supports HST.
@@rgl168 Ah, so it does. The missing coveted "Dual Standard" branding tricked me. I suppose by the time this model was released the HST protocol was obsolete and no longer a selling point.
The author of Qmodem approves!
would love to talk about doing a Qmodem video!
A long-time user of Qmodem also approves.
I was a loyal Telix user, but when I discovered QModem Pro 1.53, there was no going back.
@@TheParallelPort and zmodem. loved them both. zmodem would remember where u were in the xfer and pick back up if there was a disconnect.
@@breakupgoogle Qmodem is a program and zmodem is a protocol
That really brings back some fond memories of running my own dinky little BBS and FidoNet node. Thank you so much for this video!
I worked for BT in the UK.
The first Modems I dealt with back in 1969 had a maximum speed of 200 bits per second and was the size of a small microwave.
Lady
Not many woman there back then.
When i was born, we still used them for BBS services, used them till 1994.
the Original Altair modems, meant for timesharing.
Lady is just a TH-cam name
Dialback has another feature beyond security. It also reversed the charges for long distance. This allowed remote workers to dial in from home, then work would call them back and pay for the phone call.
I ran a BBS on the previous generation, the courier HST. I actually had a beta model of it that USRobotics sent me before they were available to the public. It had a gold plate on top that said “Not for resale”. All they asked for were the diagnostic logs of incoming callers to the BBS. they were very interesting times.
Same. I've still got one somewhere as a souvenir. The only remnant of Cloud 9 BBS from San Marcos, CA.
I never knew dialback security was a thing. Fascinating!
I've been dreaming about this modem in my teen years (1997 - 2003). Never had it. It was insanely expensive in Russia for me and my family. I had Zoltrix 33.6K int. and later Acorp 56K Ext.Then came cable internet...
U.S.Robotics Courier was a symbol of reliability and speed.
Same here! As a kid, my friend's father was a salesperson for HP and I remember seeing a USR Courier box in the back of his car. I was so jealous, but then it turned out it was for a customer and not my friend, which was even more disappointing as that meant neither of us got to experience it.
Yes! So expensive! I won mine from a drawing in some business magazine, I still think probably noone else sent in their details for the drawing. Before that a horrible creatix fax modem.
You jogged my memory! Zoltrix. Acorp. Absolutely nostalgic stuff! 😁
For the carrier dropping right after connecting, is the other terminal program doing something with DTR? I remember from back in the day lowering DTR would disconnect the call (as opposed to. +++ then ATH0 maybe?) I think you can configure it with an S register.
Why is watching some guy spend half an hour dialing a Y2K modem *so* fascinating? Why?? Lock me away now.... with a PC and phone line a Courier Biz modem. 🙂
This video is also preserving history
Iconic, and super sleek looking....I have two proudly sitting on the display shelf behind me.
Back when I ran a BBS, another sysop said "that Courier will connect to a tree and hold the connection, if it has to" and he was only slightly exaggerating. I didn't own one at the time but I own one now. Wish I had it 25 years ago.
tribbs ftw.
And even automatically try raising the data rate again so it will not be getting worse and worse from noise. 😮
The days of the early internet in the 90's were magical - back then you actually needed special software to surf the web. Mysterious, unchartered territory is the best I can describe it.
USR were so very expensive for a 14 year old kid running a BBS. I had to settle for a 28.8k Supera
Started out with a 2400bps that came with the family 386, and finally convinced the folks to upgrade to a 28.8k Zoom. It was quite a while before I got my own Sportster 56k. Like you said: Couriers were unobtanium for mere mortals.
The other quality modem brand was Hayes of course. Who can remember all the AT commands?
All? Dear God no😂
USR Courier was great but the Telebit TrailBlazer was the GOAT of modems. PEP multiplexing could get this thing to 18432 bits per second when most modems were at 2400, fancy ones were 4800 and 9600 was just starting to come out. It had hardware protocol spoofing that supported UUCP, XMODEM, YMODEM, SDLC and Kermit later.
That ping reminds me of playing Quake2 online against ISDN hpbs. Managed to swap my sportster at work for one of these when a server using the courier was decommissioned. It was still faster than sharing the 128k ISDN Proxy Server with 3000 employees..
How cool! I never had a Courier, but I did have a couple of their Sportsters and loved them!
The best thing about the Courier was that it just.. existed. Drivers? Software? RS232 and AT command set, bud. That's all you need. I had at one point four modems on one machine playing with teaming, and the courier and the sportster were the only ones that didn't cause problems.
The big hurdle was straightening out the IRQ conflicts in Windows if you had more than a couple serial devices and a CDROM.
That's true of every external modem. It's just a serial device. It was common for whatever programs one used to need an "init string" for your specific modem, 'tho in most cases there wasn't much to customize.
The lights on the front from my memory (honest) ... HighSpeed, AutoAnswer, CarrierDetect, OffHook, ReceiveData, SendData, DataTerminalReady, ModemReady, RequestToSend, ClearToSend. Not 100% sure of SYN and ARQ 30 years later... But I knew them at the time! :)
These things were the gold standard.. I had Courier HST Dual Standard, looked the same. There was a free flash update that I believe brought it up to this V.Everything iirc
Back when I was BBS Sysop back in the 90s, the ultimate dream modem was the Courier I-Modem.
I had (have?) this one. It worked great on crappy phone lines.
Beautiful! I dropped a tear 😢 Got emotional! Good times❤
Holy frell, that user manual is so full of typos it makes the "manuals" of cheap AliExpress knock-off products you can buy for a buck or two look like the Merriam-Webster. Oof.
I had somebody give me an ISDN modem when I was still pretty much a kid - they said it was way faster than any other modems so I couldn't figure out why it would never connect at higher than 19.2Kbps. It was years later that I finally found out what ISDN was and why I never got it to run at the 128Kbps they said it would run at - but since I didn't know that back then (and all I had were local BBS, not 'the internet' as it is now) I ended up tinkering with just about every setting that modem had trying to get it to run at what I thought it's speed should have been.
I'm surprised it never occurred to you to be limited by the thing you're calling.
I just wanted to point out that you have got the concept of call back security completely backwards. The call back function is not part of the security it's self, but rather the security is there to protect the call back function. Business men out in the field would need to call in to their company computers and to avoid long distance charges from the remote phone. The remote would call in to make a request for a connection, give the call back number of the remote phone and just hang up (Making the call from the remote phone as short as possible.). The company computer would then call the remote number and the company's computer would get bill for the long distant call and the remote would get the call for free because it was being received. This was very handy for calls being made from a pay phone, because if you make a long distance call from a payphone, the operator would cut in now and then asking for more money and that would not go well for a modem connection. The call back security that was implemented in the hardware of the modem was to prevent spoofing or "man in the middle" attacks.
I had a Sysop Courier modem back in the 90s when 16.8k HST was the new hot thing. Been recently playing with a pair of Couriers going through SPA122 MTA to a remote dialup bbs on the SFWEM AREDN network. Crazy but it works!
Yep, I remember getting mine via the Sysop deal years ago as a teenager. It was a dual standard 14.4k with a daughterboard upgrade to run 16.8K and later firmware upgraded to 56K. Thanks to that daughterboard it gave me the ability to do firmware upgrades to add more features and speed. This is actually my first firmware upgradable device in the 1990s. I still have the modem. 😁
@@Darkk6969 Nice... wish I still had my original sysop modem though I want to say my daughter board was only the 20mhz one so it couldn't do v.90 or v.92. anyway.. I hope yours is worth some real money in 20yrs! ;-)
I have a pair of these. I am wanting to setup a BBS and a dial up internet connection in my home network. Once the new house is finished, this is a winter time project of mine. Thanks for these nostalgic videos!
John VanWinkel
Happy we got 10k data line in 1994, no more BBS hobby !
PTT Amsterdam was the best. Basicly the government.
I still have a couple in a box somewhere that I'd previously used for OOB management.
Those things could get a stable connection over 2 tin-cans and a piece of wet string.
Asked for this for Christmas- got a 14.4k Rockwell RPI instead that constantly disconnected!
omg Rockwell RPI... _shudder_. Worked support for a small ISP in 96..those were dreaded.
never updated the firmware ?
80 users on a modem... bam
Hi, you mention about SIP (VoIP) call to ISP - may you please share your experience with ?
I have 2811 -> AS5300 full of MICAs and call via SIP USR Courier -> DLink ATA -> SIP 2811 -> AS5300 are horrible 40000/9600 with lot of retrains vs 53k/31200 courier -> vic-4fxs 2811 -> AS5300.
I'm looking for ATA with best possible jitter control.
I'm sure that "lifetime warranty" is still good. 😆
Right up until they stopped making them...
I SO lusted over USR modems. My first modem was a 14.4 winmodem from some unknown company, was a POS, error detection and correction was SW based, so wasn't available in DOS unless you were running windows. Saved up all the money I could and got an internal USR Sportster 33.6 modem. It was SO much nicer to use, but ironically had a firmware bug that caused it to freeze. So I had to RMA the darn thing, TWICE!! Still, once I got one without the bug I used it for many years without issue. Eventually found a used external Courier v.everything modem, this was at the end of the modem days, but it was glorious to use. Then I went DSL and my modems all collected dust.
Thankyou for this video. I went from 2400 to 14.4k and stayed there for YEARS until I got this exact modem - way too late... Broadband DSL was just around the corner; I'd of loved to have a v.92 right when they came out man!!
this video brings back such strong nostalgia....
US Robotics on ETSI
I should make my own video, how we made them work, and how we updated the offiicial firmware. Needed for PABX and public switches.
They owned Gandalf a lot, we made them all compatible.
j got this modem way back when, took a lot of begging and saving and getting As in classes before my parents would buy it for me. When I started, it was a 28.8K modem., It came with a free firmware upgrade for 33.6K. Later on it got the 56k x2 upgrade (when it was between x2 and k56flex), and finally an upgrade to v.92. Still have it. Didn't know they were still around until my old work upgraded to gigabit internet and the ISP put in a media converter and a phone line. The phone line plugged into a Courier that was connected to the console port of the media converter. These are features that aren't on my Courier. And what's with the massive number of typos on the document for Dialback Security?
I bought 1 of those from eBay in 1999 or 2000 I think. I don't remember if it came with the CD. I was mostly using Linux. I never used the call back feature.
After your videos on the 90s ISP series I knew I had to get all this stuff just to get my mom's USR V.90 Message back up and running! I would have loved to be around during that awesome era.
BTW, I'm also getting a USR Courier :)
I got an earlier version of one of these during the compuserve era. I think 14.4k maybe, when I bought it? Over the next few years, multiple firmware updates took me all the way up to 56k. Any other modem brand would have had to be replaced multiple times. It was awesome, and well worth emptying my bank account for.
I had 4 of those on my bbs.. had zoom 9600's prior. The main problem with them was you could never get 56 on naked phone lines. You needed a different service. they were limited to ~48k
This was my favorite modem. So much better than the 300 baud acoustic modem (joking, but I've had those too).
I still use my courier for fax everyday. It still works on my old 386 DOS machine.
What a beautiful modem! Those were the ones seen in magazines, the one my family had was a boring internal modem! It looks quite a bit bigger than expected 👍
Thank you for the USR everything review. I have the USR 58k v92 modem like that. But, not v. everything. Tons of people had those External Sporster modems. I hated USR. One reason if the ISP was using USR modem rack (from my understanding USR was almost giving away modem racks.). You had to either use a USR modem or find one that was good enough. Oh and I tried a internal hays modem and had issues with higher speeds. The next reason was standards. k56flex from Rockwell was used as almost everything. Except USR who used X2. (I hope I remember this right.) So instead of giving in they went and pushed for a standard. Thus, V.90 was born. Years later I found out about V.92 but I was already depending on what year DSL or Cable.Now, I do have to give credit on the V. Everything. Between modules, and firmware upgrades after the initial purchase price. You saved good. I can't remember but, you had some strange non-standardized speeds. 110, 300, 600 (not really used or skipped. I can't remember.) 9600, 14.4 28.8 33.6 (I swear something in this spot then 56k Though maxed at 53k? Anyway please add or correct any mistakes. On final note. The place I worked at did the homework and it was funny replacing out brand new modems with high quality modems that we know worked with the local ISP. We contacted them to get a list (or make a list.). Like now when you get a DSL or Cable modem list. Oh and plug in play when you rebooted the machine and the software could not find the modem.
600 baud was never a thing. It went from 300 to 1200, then 2400. If you had 2400 in the BBS days you were cruising, "styling and profiling" as it was called, and often received preferential treatment by BBS's (even specific dedicated 2400-only phone numbers). 9600 I only ever saw internally within a network, that was the speed a terminal interacted with multiuser minicomputers like the Alpha Microsystems AM100 & AM1000 or mainframes such as a VAX. DSL pretty much bypassed that speed for dialup. The standard step you were looking for after 33.6 was 48k. Actual speeds could vary. Using a 56k modem on a DSL dialup, I saw reported transfer rates like 43,000 and 45,333 baud. Best performance I was ever able to squeeze out of that hardware/provider combination was 53,333 baud (middle-class/bougie neighborhood of urban area, within 1 mi. of telco switching center)
@@xheralt I had a 2400 baud modem towards the end of the BBS era. I also had a 14.4, 28.8 and finally a 56k. This is going to drive me up the wall though. I decided to check modem speed. I know they have a list of certified stuff. I thought of a speed of say 19.2 or something like that. Mostly say USR / firmware upgrades. That was not a standard. Currently I'm deep diving into T1 circuit with things like ISDN, PRI, BRI, etc. I like to play with legacy phone systems and thus, having a small T1 circuit with pri channels. Works great between them and a Cisco router.
USR wasn't "giving them away". There were cheaper options out there. USR made some of the best modem tech ever. Yes, the 56k war was a dark era where ISPs dictated what modem the user would need. Luckily, it didn't last long for v.90 to settle it. Having been the network engineer for an ISP in those years, USR's modems were the least problematic. And I've tested / used boxes of non-USR modems with USR TC modems. (those "quads" are 4 couriers on a blade.)
@@jfbeam The only other few things I remember is one company was using a non usr modem bank and then you had firmware upgrades to modem banks that would roll out and do some strange things. I remember at least once getting tons of calls about modems having a hard time connecting. Lucky I was able to call the ISP and find out what was up. Just remember selling tons and tons of modems. Mostly used modems you could disable plug n play on and also would have a certain chip on it. I want to say Rockwell. Sort of like generic sound cards. Some was great and other was garbage.
Look for an old school DOS communications program called Terminate. You'll have an easier time managing your modem with this piece of software.
The most satisfying modem for sure. Just from the relais click when you turn it on. I used to buy those on computer flea markets etc, apply 56k upgrade and sell them again. Only time ever i earned money selling stuff. Ofc all spent on other cool hardware. I kept one Courier-i for memories over many years. Because it was the absolutenpeak of that technology.
Nobody ever turned off the speaker. They believed it was supposed to screech and squeal in order to connect, even though it was sending that signal on wires rather than acoustically. The sound was really only necessary for debugging. I always turned mine off and trusted that it was connecting. If I had connection problems I could turn it on to make sure the number I was calling was a modem and not a person answering a voice line, but I could even do that by picking up a nearby phone to listen as it dialed out, or I could dial the number myself to check and see.
That screeching sound is like the VCR flashing 12:00 because nobody bothered setting their clocks. A petty annoyance that people just don't bother fixing.
I have a USR Courier 2400 bps modem somewhere that looks almost identical to this.
I had a couple of these for running a BBS, where we could get these for half off these expensive modems. HST was faster than anything else back then.
Great video. I still some USR external modems in the garage! I should send them to Serial Port. Always preferred external as I liked the lights.
I remember the Sysop deals ... the only way I could afford anything like this as a teenager.
I still have one, with the original power supply and manual, but not the box. I bought it when I was in college.
I obviously haven't used it in many decades, but I've no desire to get rid of it.
I have a few of these, They are beasts of modems. Software upgradable.
I think even the earliest models from 1994 were software upgradable to 56K? The hardware was so good.
@@TheParallelPort i know the software upgrade went pretty far back but I'm not sure on specifics. I have one of these for a dial in node on a bbs I still run. Love em!
@@TheParallelPort Yep. Mine have a special daughterboard that I had to get from USR to give me the ability to do software upgrades. Real slick feature in the 1990s. I still have this modem!
I am torn on how to feel about this.
O1H, that was a unique feature. Usually, when you needed a faster modem, you bought a faster modem. That's just how it was done. OTOH, there wasn't a lot that was technically different. It was all DSP. Why weren't modems ALL upgradeable after, like 14.4K? That said, you easily paid for two or three modems when you bought a Courier, so I guess they got theirs either way. Maybe if other manufacturers charged a nominal amount to buy the upgrade, and tied it to the serial number (because otherwise, of course it would be pirated), we could've all had nice things.
My mind just rallies back and forth between "that is sooo cool" to "why wasn't this just a thing for everybody???"
I wanted one of these so bad when I was a kid but could never afford one. I had a US Robotics Sportster though.
I feel bad now tossing my old V.everything modem.
Must stop watching videos like this.... just put an offer in for a used one of these modems on eBay.
Includes voice detection - it was awesome for war-dialing.
That is the GOAT of the modems :D
I wonder if they stole this from Research In Motion?
This channel should *really* be called _The Serial Port._ Oh, wait...
Waiting…
The real reason you wanted to watch this video: 10:38
I am happy I stumbled upon this.
OMG. I worked on these back in the days... I am surprised you still have a POTS line to use this 😅 The folks that designed the chips in these are all retired!
He doesn't. Hence "pretty good for a VoIP line" at the beginning, and then the tour of the Linksys ATA.
its goes around the phone line cable and its a ferrite choke to remove unwanted RF
hah I love how there's three different comments on that in here now.. one for serial cable, one for power cord, and one for phone line cord. :)
@@khx73 Would be interesting to see how the in-box docs say to use it. I don't see it as useful on any of the cords. The frequencies it would block are well outside range of the telco network (thus "modem noise".) DC power won't matter. And the serial cable? Just. No.
I still have one! No box though.
I always aspired to a Courier when I first started using BBS's back in the day! This was a very unexpected nostalgic break! good video!
In the late 90's early 2000's I had a 56k modem and we lived in a new subdivision in Australia, it would connect at 53.333kbps or on a slow day it was 52. something. Original Counter Strike me and a mate using LAN internet sharing we could both get 180-220ping in CS on the same server. 'Good old days' Cheers for the great video mate.
When I was in HS I decided I wanted to be an engineer and work for US Robotics. Well, I became an engineer, but USR was gone by the time I graduated. Just as well... I got a better job.
I've pulled so many of these, new in box, from corporate data rooms where AT&T provided one for out of band management of their equipment, but were never hooked up. Thanks AT&T...
I have a C variant of that modem that I have no use for, its still brand new. don't have the box or accessories though.
Ferrite beads filter out high frequency interference such as might be picked up when the cable acts as an antenna (or transmitter) on the phone line loop at the ferrite..
I never thought that dialback security procedure would take up one minute. Shouldn't it switch to another number in shorter time frame, e.g. 30-40 seconds?
Yeah the 1.5 minute wait seems so arbitrary, and it's not configurable!
USR was always trying to outdo the Hayes Smartmodem.
I owned both, Hayes was definitely in second place.
I knew that would get a reaction.😄
And they did every step of the way. Hayes invented the "AT Command Set", but USR modems were affordable and useful to consumers.
('tho I'll give "case design" to Hayes. That aluminum shell is nearly bulletproof.)
Noticed the click-of-death-drive 😅
Ironically I am watching this at 155564 kpps
Watching on a 1.5Gbps fiber connection... such a thing was beyond imagining when I had my Courier modem :)
So close. You _almost_ have the best modem ever made. You really want the USR Courier V.34 Dual Standard modem. It is the GOAT of modems. It was freely upgradeable to v.92 and also supported the HST protocols.
When V.90/V.92 was finally released, it was faster than HST, but the Dual Standard modem supported both. More supported protocols = technically better.
Also, the Dual Standard was far more expensive than the V.only models.
The model number shown in the video *do* support HST protocol. Refer to bitly link 4bzDMg9 (I entered the direct link in my original reply and it got censored) which is the spec sheet archive for that model, and it clearly indicates that this model supports HST.
@@rgl168 Ah, so it does. The missing coveted "Dual Standard" branding tricked me. I suppose by the time this model was released the HST protocol was obsolete and no longer a selling point.
That's literally what he has. This one was manufactured in the V.92 era, so has a different badge. It's the exact same hardware.