Dial-up modem with an iMac

I am running OSX 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) on an iMac (2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB 800 Mhz DDR2 SDRAM).
I have had a DSL connection since purchasing this computer, but when I moved my current phone line is only rated for 768 Kbps download speed, which is dial-up speed. My internet provider has finally gotten the phone company to admit to this and has recommended I downgrade to dial-up since I am in fact operating at a maximum of 610Kbps anyhow.
They would provide me with an external modem which would connect to the computer using a telephone line with phone-style plug on the modem side and a USB2 at the computer, a specialty product they state that Apple would sell me. Currently, I use an Ethernet line from the DSL modem to the computer.
My question is: Can my iMac even use a dial-up connection with an external modem? If so, does Apple in fact sell such a specialty line or does the connection have to be made through an Ethernet line due to hardware/software constraints?
There is no wireless or satellite option where I live due to building interference. The building itself is wired for cable, which I do not care to have. I am willing to simply downgrade to the lowest speed DSL if dial-up is not possible with my iMac.
Thanks for information relevant to making my decision.

@Lanny, you are correct; the maximum speed of 768k was cited by a support tech and may refer to the phone line's native capacity due to distance. I have decided to downgrade to the lowest DSL option available to me (1.5 Mbps instead of 3.0 Mbps) and retain the capability of having simultaneous phone and internet access, which is not available with dial-up. My maximum download speed at my current location hovers around 600K.
The source of the difficulty, I suspect, is that the phone company is converting to optical fibers from copper fibers and is pushing their own "blazingly fast" internet product based on fiber optics, rather than DSL with its expensive paired copper lines. I don't know if the phone company has an additional a means of limiting transmission speeds to thwart their competition, although if I can conceive of this possibility, someone else smarter than me had probably figured out a way to accomplish this 5-10 years ago. My ISP is gradually building their own fiber optic network to gain independence from the dominant telephone line owner.
Thanks for your reply. It confirmed my intuition to stick with DSL but at the lowest available speed option.

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Are there any webcams that work on a dial-up modem with OSX Tiger?

I've seen some discussions about specific webcams, but my problem is I'm on a dialup modem, without broadband. Though webcams exist that will work adequately for me with OS 9.x, there does not appear to be anything anywhere in the market that will work for with Tiger. The closest are the Logitech cams that stop at 10.2. Anybody have any suggestions?
Powermac G5 Mac OS X (10.4.4) dial-up modem. not broadband available (I'm in the sticks)

Firewire cameras are natively supported in OSX.
Many USB cameras are supported using 3rd party
driver
such as <a</div>
href="http://webcam-osx.sourceforge.net/"
target="_blank">maccam.
You can also get drivers from ioxperts
Tim,
Thanks for the quick response. However I was not
asking about digital cameras, I was asking about
webcams. Am I missing something?
Yes you are missing something. I was talking about
firewire webcams doh!
http://www.macworld.com/2003/12/reviews/firewirewebcam
s/
I've been following detailed threads on specific
webcams, and have not seen anyone have success for my
situation.
What do you need a webcam for?
Tim,
Thanks again. I'm learning a lo already by following your suggestions. I have no high-power needs, just basic video chattiing, but I'm in the sticks out here, on a 56K dial-up modem. Can't even get broadband. Many of the cams I've seen require high-speed internet. I can continue searching.
I will mark this question as answered by you, but if you have any particiular cameras to suggest, I will appreciate your inputs. I had already looked at Macworld without success.
brinum

Dial Aiport Modem with PC

Sorry if this is something that is already here, but have read through the forum a couple of times and not found a duplicate post. I have a Airport (snow) that I use for internet access with DSL. I have a powerbook and pc xp sp2 that are connected wirelessly through it for internet access with no problems. I want to be able to utilize the airport internal modem for a program on my pc. I utilize pcanywhere to link with my desktop at the office and would like to be able to use the modem in the Airport to connect so that I can be wireless in the house using pcanywhere. Because of security issues I do not want to use internet to connect with this other computer and connection over a phone line is entirely adequate for my needs. I want to be able to dial the internal modem of the airport with my pc laptop. I would think this should be possible, but can't find the information on how to set it up.
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PowerBook G4 Mac OS X (10.3.9)
PowerBook G4 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

@Lanny, you are correct; the maximum speed of 768k was cited by a support tech and may refer to the phone line's native capacity due to distance. I have decided to downgrade to the lowest DSL option available to me (1.5 Mbps instead of 3.0 Mbps) and retain the capability of having simultaneous phone and internet access, which is not available with dial-up. My maximum download speed at my current location hovers around 600K.
The source of the difficulty, I suspect, is that the phone company is converting to optical fibers from copper fibers and is pushing their own "blazingly fast" internet product based on fiber optics, rather than DSL with its expensive paired copper lines. I don't know if the phone company has an additional a means of limiting transmission speeds to thwart their competition, although if I can conceive of this possibility, someone else smarter than me had probably figured out a way to accomplish this 5-10 years ago. My ISP is gradually building their own fiber optic network to gain independence from the dominant telephone line owner.
Thanks for your reply. It confirmed my intuition to stick with DSL but at the lowest available speed option.

What sort of dial-up modems does one use with a "Bionic Desk Lamp" iMac?

Yes, I still use dial-up (and indeed, my aging Performa 5215 is still on its factory 14.4 modem).
I'm planning on buying a used G4 iMac on eBay (see my posting in the OS 9 forum for related questions), but what sort of dial-up modem do I use, that will work in both OS 9 and OS X?

Outside of perhaps a handful of top-end machines, printing on special media, I've never seen inkjet output that looked any better than MicroDry output on comparable media. Moreover:
1. With the exception of hot-wax-jet systems, inkjet output is soggy, and takes time to become waterproof (assuming that ever happens without spraying varnish on the page); MicroDry output is as dry and waterproof as laser output.
2. Inkjet has the highest cost of consumables of any printing technology ever devised. If you use your printer like crazy, you rapidly empty the often-expensive cartridges. If you don't use it like crazy, the often-expensive cartridges clog and/or dry out. By contrast, laser toner and MicroDry ribbons have a once-opened shelf-life that is whole orders of magnitude greater than that of inkjet cartridges, and the only way to ruin them is to (laser) print so many blank pages you overflow the waste-toner receptacle, or (MicroDry) break the ribbon (and that can be fixed with about half an hour's work)
3. MicroDry is one of the few printing technologies that can print metallic colors and opaque white, and can also automatically varnish their output. The more advanced MicroDry models also have a dye sublimation mode (with optional varnish) that allows them to double as the cheapest-to-run dyesubs available.
The ALPS MicroDry printer line flopped in the marketplace for two reasons. First, they didn't offer PCL or PostScript, even as an option, and (especially in dyesub mode) host-based RIPping is a long, slow, memory-intensive process (that's been known to crash my long-suffering Performa 5215). Second, ALPS has absolutely no name recognition in the United States except among engineers and technicians. This meant that they were fighting an uphill battle just to get anybody to look at their products.
Moreover, the few attempts ALPS made at strategic alliances (to overcome the lack of name recognition) were with a company (Citizen) that isn't known for much beyond digital watches and (maybe) hand calculators, and a company (Epson) that had strong financial reasons to suppress MicroDry, color laser, and anything else that competed with inkjet.
On that last note, may I point out that when a color laser printer small enough, cheap enough, and quiet enough to be classified as an "inkjet-killer" finally hit the market last year, it came from Samsung, a company that had name recognition, but absolutely no inkjet assets whatsoever.

File sharing with Leopard through dial up modem on Performa 6400

There are some really important files that i need to get off my Macintosh Performa 6400 (running 8.6) but the only connection that my iMac G5 (running 10.5.4) and the performa share is the dial up modem. I can't get an internet connection on the performa since we have broadband and it does not have an ethernet port, so that's out of the question. Some of the files are too big to fit on a floppy and my iMac doesn't have a floppy drive anyways.
I turned on file sharing on both computers, but they don't see each other being as they're connected through the dial up modems. After having searched up and down Google with no answer, my question is: is there anyway i can file share through the dial up modem using the aforementioned configuration?
Since I'll only need to do this once, I don't want to have go out and buy something in order to get this to work.
Thank you for any and all help you guys may provide.

I realise that you didn't, originally, intend to spend anything but, if you have a spare PCI slot left in your 6400. I wonder if maybe installing a Keyspan USB PCI card would help. That way the 6400 could communicate direct with the G5 and save the hassle of removing its HD.
http://www.allmacshop.co.uk/proddetail/19184/KeyspanUSB_PCI_Card_2-Port_Mac_Win__UPCI-2/
The manufacturer's part number is UPCI-2.
I installed one of these in my PowerMac 6500/300. Turned to be one of my better decisions as I was then able then to import photos direct from my digital camera and all sorts.
Or there's this which is better still-
http://www.macheaven.co.uk/?page=proddetail&prod=1343
Check compatibility with your 6400 though as I don't have one of these so I don't know if it works or not. Don't see why it shouldn't though.

Dial Up Connection With My Recon HP7800 Windows 7 Using An Internal 5600K Modem

Just purchased a refurbed HP7800 with Windows 7. They installed an internal 5600K modem but it will not connect to the Internet using AOL as my connection.
I'm not real savy about this newer technology but the modem doesn't seem to be operating.

Hello Shoboy,
Welcome to the HP Forums, I hope you enjoy your experience! To help you get the most out of the HP Forums I would like to direct your attention to the HP Forums Guide First Time Here? Learn How to Post and More.
I understand you have recently purchased a refurbished HP Compaq dc7800 Business PC with a 56k dial-up modem installed and the dial-up modem is not working. I am sorry, but to get your issue more exposure, I would suggest posting it in the commercial forums, since this is a commercial product. You can do this at Business PCs - Compaq, Elite, Pro.
I hope this helps. Thank you for posting on the HP Forums. Have a great day!
Please click the "Thumbs Up" on the bottom right of this post to say thank you if you appreciate the support I provide!
Also be sure to mark my post as “Accept as Solution" if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others who face the same challenge find the same solution.
Dunidar
I work on behalf of HP
Find out a bit more about me by checking out my profile!
"Customers don’t expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to fix things when they go wrong." ~ Donald Porter

I get the following error message when I connect a usb ethernet adapter to my new MacBook Pro: Unsupported - You cannot use an Apple USB Modem with this computer. I live were we only have dial-up and the Apple Store said this is what I need.

I get the following error message when I connect a usb ethernet adapter to my new MacBook Pro: Unsupported - You cannot use an Apple USB Modem with this computer. I live where we only have dial-up and the Apple Store said this is what I need. In addition, when I connect the phone to the connecter it falls out, it will not click in.

Why are you using a usb ethernet adaptor? Just plug the modem into the usb port.

Time Capsule 4 gen. with iMac OS X Lion 3 Windows PC (XP OS, Vista OS, Seven OS) cable modem with TC as Wi-Fi. Time Machine on iMac found TC for backup easily. Have Wi-Fi access on PC XP with Airport utility but cannot create TC.

Installed today Time Capsule 4 gen. with iMac OS X Lion. I also have 3 Windows PC (XP OS, Vista OS, Seven OS). Internet Access is cable modem with TC as Wi-Fi. Time Machine on iMac found TC for backup easily. Have Wi-Fi access on PC XP with Airport utility but cannot create TC. Does the Airport utility under Windows is way to access backup capabilities with TC ?

The TC is really just an external networked hard disk plus router.. you can access the hard disk and place files on it from any computer. You can backup any computer to the TC but it will have to use a backup software in windows.. there are literally thousands available. The built in msbackup is horrible.. but you can download lots of different software and buy then online for not a lot. Macrium Reflect has a free disk image backup, and when you pay for it includes incremental. I think disk images are well worth it, as they recover much better.. and their is a proper method of recovery using a boot cd.
BTW the TC space is not endless. And it is designed to hold a large number of incremental backups.. so anything you do in backing up several machines will make the number of backups limited. Remember you can also use a usb hard disk plugged in as a Network accessible disk. But it has to be formatted HFS+ or Fat32.. the later being highly undesirable.

My dial up modem

my dial up modem isn't connecting on my iMac. when it starts connecting it then starts disconnecting it will say this for ages, then i have to restart. i know it isnt something to do with the ISP as i can still connect on my pc. is it a hardware or sortware prob? i think the port won't open!

same issue here. I just posted a message about my problems with my G5 since July. I was told to re-install the discs that came with it and it DOWNGRADED my OS from 10.3.9 to a 10.3.5 and my ISP software is now corrupted. I have a new modem coming and my Imac is less than a year old. So far(since July) I have had the logic board replaced twice, the power supply, hard drive and bluetooth keyboard replaced. I hope you have the Apple care protection.

Apple modem with Lion

In Lion, if I attempt to connect the Apple modem I bought with this computer (an iMac purchased in 2007, though About This Mac suggests the general style is "5.1 late 2006") I am faced with the message "Unsupported: You cannot use an Apple USB modem with this computer". For the present, as I still have a Snow Leopard disk and I rarely use the modem apart from sending the very occasional fax, there is no problem. Even so, my next house move will be in a few months, and I know that one tends to spend about a month on dial-up until broadband is released and assigned.
My questions are: (1) Do I need to buy a third-party modem? (2) Is it likely to work?
Many thanks in advance for any suggestions.

John Whittaker wrote:
(1) Do I need to buy a third-party modem?
Yes.
(2) Is it likely to work?
If the maker says it's compatible with Lion, probably.

Quick question: are most 56KB dial-up modems supported via USB ... ?

I need to use my iMac occasionally for sending and receiving faxes ...
Of course I have an option to buy an external Apple USB 56KB modem, but just wondering if I can use other conventional USB dial-up modems if it has an appropriate Mac OS X driver/software ... ?
This seems to be a much less expensive option as well, considering I'll only use it once or twice a month ...
Any brands that are known to work better with OS X.4 on an Intel iMac ...?
Macfinger

You can Google for USB Modems to find what's available, but frankly Apple's is as competitively priced as anything and has the advantage of being small. Others are much larger and mostly cost the same or more.

How do I determine if the memory problems are with my imac and not the RAM?

I've heard of some vague problems with intel imacs and their memory slots. I'm about to replace (for the 3rd time) RAM, and think I need to test further to see if the problem is with my imac and not the RAM. Right now I put back in the original 2-512 sticks that came with the imac, and the rember test is only showing 594mb (odd amt!) testing OK. But, in "about my mac" it will show as 1gb.
Problems I've had with each set of RAM: occasional KP's, excessive spinning beachballs, sudden closing of apps (esp. if I have several apps running), won't fax usually (will hear a fax tone instead of a dial tone at the onset), disappearing documents section under my username.
I bought this imac refurbed thru the apple store last fall: 2.16 C2D 20" imac
Any ideas before I have to separate myself from my imac to send it in??

Hi Toodles
The pin strips on the new modules maybe a little thicker than your original modules, and it's going to take more force to seat them properly. If the new Memory Specifications are correct I would try them again. Slide them in untill they stop, then push real hard untill you feel them seat into place.
I've never seen a report about an odd amount of ram shown. If reinstalling the ram modules does not solve your issue, and may be a indication that there is something wrong with one of the slots.
Dennis
17" iMac Intel Core Duo - 2GB Ram - Mac OS X (10.4.10) - Maxtor 300GB FireWire - Creative Inspire 2.1 - 2G Nano

Router suddenly no longer works with my iMAC. Please help, I'm desperate.

SSIA, pretty much. One day, after a few years of working fine, my Linksys BEFSR41 Vers. 3 router just stopped working with my iMac. I've dtermined through process of elimination that it is indeed the router since I can access the internet by plugging the cable modem directly into my Mac and thus can write this to you guys now. I tried just hooking up the Mac and the router directly and trying to access it through the http://192.168.1.1 address. Didn't work. So I thought the router just crapped out for some reason. Then I went out and bought a brand new Linksys BEFSR41 Vers. 3 router. Considering I had no problem with the first one for a few years it seemed reasonable. Now that one won't work either. Although I can access it via the 192.168.1.1 address. However once I do that, I no idea what to do. I tried to upgrade firmware and that was only supposed to "take a few minutes" but it said that for 3 hours so I stopped it. The thing is, with the first router I didn't need to do a thing. All I had to do was plug it in and it worked beautifully with my iMac and TiVo. Maybe something in my iMac wigged out and that why it won't work with these things anymore. I don't know. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do to get my iMac and TiVo back online again via this router? I truly appreciate any help and the patience it must've taken you to get this far in reading long post.
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Oh my God thank you so much. I spent the last week trying to figure this **** thing out and that's all it took. Sometimes the most simple explanation is all that's required but last looked at. Thank you for pointing out the obvious. I kinda wish Linksys would've pointed that out to me when I exchanged a total of 25 e-mails with them. Oh well. Thank you again. I am so grateful.

I want to use my Personal Laserwriter, but it won't work with my imac

I have a personal laserwriter printer. It work great with my older mac - Performa 580CD. However when I tried setting it up with my imac - using a MacOS 9.X driver and usb-serial adaptor - it only works with OS 9.x softeware.
So I have a laser printer that I cannot use. I'd like to get it up and running for my MacBoo Pro, too. Any advice?

The personal LaserWriter NTR and the Personal LaserWriter 320 are Postscript level 2 printers that can run with the built-in Mac OS X Drivers.
What is missing is a way to make the connection to recent machines that do not have a Printer/Modem/LocalTalk port. You can use the Mac's Ethernet port to carry AppleTalk packets (in addition to the standard TCP/IP packets) and use a converter to bridge from Ethernet to LocalTalk.
Two converters are available on the used market: The Farallon EtherMac iPrint LT and the Asante Asantetalk. The Asante may also be available new, but at a cost near US$100 new, you could get a more capable used Ethernet-capable printer for the same money.
If you have an older Mac that has a Printer/Modem/LocalTalk port and an Ethernet port and is still running OS 9 or earlier, you can download a package called LocalTalk Bridge to run in the background and do the conversion.
The other Personal LaserWriters would require a bridge AND a third-party driver.

Problems with 24" iMac

This is actually a copy of my comment in someone elses thread. However, I decided to create my own thread because I have several issues with my iMac.
I purchased my iMac in 2009. It's a 24". I have a 1TB internal harddrive and a 1 TB time capsule. My harddrive was full (970Gb's used) as well as my time capsule. So I bought a 2tb extern harddrive. I moved all my videos to this external harddrive and now have about 330 G's used up on my iMac. I also wanted to free up the time capsule so I decided to reformat it. I used the quick method.
One thing I also did recently was purchase the lion operating system. Plus I also bought the latest iMovie and iPhoto. I think there are glitches with the latest operating system because I don't remember having any of the following issues prior to ipgrading.
I've also started having a problem with my screen when I first sit down to use my iMac. I click the mouse to wake the iMac, then need to chose which login to use. I have 2. Mine and one for my kids. However, what I get is a black screen but when I move my mouse around, it clears the screen where the mouse has passed...very weird. Anyway, once I reveal my login tab and click on it, I can enter my password and login. Then the black screen disappears. But this is where my iMac is slow, meaning I get the round multi color thing quit often. It's like waiting for a page to load using dial up!!
The other thing is, my wifi wasn't working. I got it fixed by following the time capsule set up thing.
Then my iMac couldn't see my printer. It gave the option to download the driver. Not sure why since it was working before but I chose to download it. But then I got a message stating it couldn't be downloaded at this time.
To be honest, I've spoken so proudly about all my apple purchases to my friends and family. My comment has been that the apple product "just works"! My opinion is changing through constant frustration. The biggest problem is that it's difficult to carry my iMac to one of the apple stores. It's not like carrying a laptop.
Also, when I call AppleCare, they tell me they can't log into my iMac. Apparently its not a service they provide. However, a friend told me that if the tech support person can't fix the problem, he or she will pass the call to a manager who CAN login, which is what I prefer. So this makes dealing with apple a challenge.
Sorry for the rant.

I myself have no issues. The foll. worked for me:
Try making a new network location and prioritzing network ports (airport should be first):
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106653
Prioritize your preferred networks:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304482
Understand WPA encryption terminology and synch your Mac with your router, e.g.
WPA PSK (TKIP) = WPA
WPA PSK (AES) = WPA2
Probe for other nearby wireless networks to indentify their broadcast channels and avoid said channels for your wireless router.
Enable wireless g only on your router if all computers on your network have wireless g adapter cards.
hope this helps - good luck

Dial-up modem with an iMac

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