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I was wondering if it's possible to connect to a friend using a DSL modem. I know that with voice-band modems, you can dial numbers and have a peer's computer answer the call and communicate with yours to send files etc, but this is slow. Is it possible to communicate with a peer's computer, WITHOUT using any ISPs using the DSL interface?
Thanks
phillid
Posted 2011-11-07T05:06:14.533
Reputation: 149
Dammit. How about the possibility to have multiple people dialing into my computer using only one telephone line? IIRC, BBSes used to do that? – phillid – 2011-11-07T05:19:08.823
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BBSes used to run mainly on POTS, not DSL. If you need multiple people connect to your system, setup a relevant server so that people can connect to it @phillid
– Sathyajith Bhat – 2011-11-07T05:21:24.397Yes, I realise they use the POTS, but is it possible to have multiple callers going to my POTS modem at the same time? – phillid – 2011-11-07T05:30:01.960
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No. The best you can do is set up a PRI or BRI, then use hunting to make all the lines look like they're on the same number.
– Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams – 2011-11-07T05:31:05.923Hmm.. Did BBS hosts used to hire more than one line or use the above technique? – phillid – 2011-11-07T05:33:31.787
Depends on how large the BBS was. Smaller ones used multiple POTS lines, while larger ones could afford a PRI. – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams – 2011-11-07T05:34:28.103
Ah ok. I'm trying to make a free web in my local community where POTS calls are free. I was going to have clients dial a compaitible server and use a program to request pages etc. Any sugesstions on how to make it work? – phillid – 2011-11-07T05:37:54.773
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You're looking for pppd, in server mode.
– Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams – 2011-11-07T05:38:44.697Great, thanks for that. This till wouldn't work multi-user, would it? – phillid – 2011-11-07T05:44:08.293
1Not with only a single line, no. But that's a POTS limitation. – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams – 2011-11-07T05:47:09.307
I think I might use a Dial on Demand approach. My friends expect free, but they can't expect speed. You can't have your cake and eat it, can you. – phillid – 2011-11-07T05:49:16.930
A POTS-to-POTS modem connection is limited to 33.6kbps regardless; you need at least a BRI to get 56k. – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams – 2011-11-07T05:50:50.080
Well, my web is initally going to be text-based, so it's plenty. 32768 / 8 = 4096 bytes per second, so it's plenty for text-based stuff. – phillid – 2011-11-07T05:54:26.843
1It's actually /10, since there is 1 start bit and 1 stop bit on top of the 8 data bits. – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams – 2011-11-07T06:52:23.530
@phillid: If you have two cakes... – user1686 – 2011-11-07T07:55:40.917
1@IgnacioVazquez-Abrams, If we're going to nitpick, it's also 33600 bits/second, not 32768. But unless the POTS line is perfect and you use no compression, you can't count on that either; actual throughput in practice may very well be both lower and higher than the theoretical link throughput. A POTS modem link will be transmit-bound no matter what you do, so if you want to, you can throw a lot of effort on compression without bogging the system down any. – a CVn – 2011-11-07T08:59:02.463