Any gotchas with dialup + MacBook Pro (late 2016)?

You can't connect the Airport Extreme to dialup: the modem requires software to dial out and do the handshake. This used to built into Macs, but presumably not now, however an external modem should come with appropriate scripts.

Wonder if the old vintage AirPort Extreme with built-in 56K modem and early

AirPort Utility version (if set up by vintage Mac in older OS X) could connect

a later Mac running OS X so it may use that dial-up AE 56K modem...?

The included 'vintage software kit' had ancient drivers for dial-up;

if set up through an old Mac with that version OS X, it may work.

But then again, it may not.

{I've a few of those old orb 'high-end' models around {including an in-the-box

from Apple Refurbished, as new, unused} & others; none presently in service.}

No dialup at present location, but I had been using an Extreme with ADSL

connection and that model has the 56K modem and an external antenna.

A standalone USB 56K Zoom modem 2005, I was given; was OK in the day.

A matter of driver support and airport utility setup, lacking for recent Macs

is the downfall of this idea.

Could a more recent MacBook model use the discontinued 56K Apple modem USB?😐

K Shaffer wrote:

Could a more recent MacBook model use the discontinued 56K Apple modem USB?

😐

The Apple 'modem' is actually only an interface between USB and the telephone line. In order to use it you need the presence of HD/System/Library/Modem Scripts. This is present on my 2010 Macbook Pro but not on my 2014 iMac.

You cannot connect an Airport Extreme either directly to the telephone line or to a modem.

If you buy a third party (i.e. not Apple) modem it should come with the software to install to make it work with your Mac. If you are able to find an Apple USB modem (long discontinued) it might work with the Modem Script you have but I wouldn't bank on it - if it doesn't there's probably no software you can install to make it work; so I should look for a third-party one.

You father should be aware that he will be very limited in what he can do with it. Basic non-html email should work OK; many website either won't load at all or will be slo slow to load as to be unusable. Simple ones will be slow but should work. Remember that even a moderately fast broadband connection is over 500 times as fast as dial-up.

Perhaps you could check with his phone company to see if

their lines in that area support ADSL, if so then he could get

an inline-filter so regular voice items (phone) would still work

and he could have fairly quick internet over the DSL, too.

The DSL would use a special modem, so the 'phone line'

could carry the other signal at higher rate; and a filter is

used to reduce the signal for a conventional phone, then.

Only one line; but it would cost more than using dialup over

older phone line. The company I'd used dialup over for awhile

chose to replace all their copper heavy cables with twisted-pair

DSL lines, through the woods and 30+ miles away from town.

This was problematic as it hadn't been done there before. Later

on, after customers were paying for defective service & also doing

troubleshooting, the company got it right. Once lines are replaced

the need to use a special filter to limit bandwidth for regular phones

is necessary; even if the internet is no longer used.

Some companies rolled this out, in advance; others sat on their

hands and didn't upgrade regular phone lines to this standard.

If he has DSL twisted-pair lines into his house or residence, the

company can offer faster internet, via a DSL modem, for extra.

The problems with dial-up are many in this information age; because

the packets of data and other bits are so much larger and take time

to download or upload at the imagined 56K (& that's often much less.)

Depending on the location or region, other options (for their fee rate)

may exist to have a fair access to internet for simple computer use.

A trial-run may be to get an older Mac with older software & modem

to see what kind of actual 'un-performance' the dial-up may bring...

Macs with built-in 56K modems + original OS X are limited online.

Good luck & happy trails! 🙂

Take a MyFi or similar cellular wifi router along as a backup. Also check that your iOS device can tether - it may be useful of have several backup plans to access the internet when setting up this system.

Dial up can be more trouble than it's worth - modern Macs expect a reasonable and constant connection. Services like software update can start at the first sign of the internet coming up and consume most or all of the throughput.

You'll want to disable almost all of the internet related features of the OS (things like Spotlight based searches, auto app updates, mail automatically fetching, browsers pre-fetching results etc). You may have to tweak a lot to make it usable.

You can consider installing 'Network link conditioner' from Xcode to see how well 56K runs…

http://nshipster.com/network-link-conditioner/

You'll need to make your own profile to simulate it.

It may work but I suspect you will need a lot of patience when any updates come along.