Dial-up

Dial-up internet access, usually called Dial-up, is a way of connecting to the Internet with a telephone line.

The modem sounds during a dial-up connection.

Mechanism

A modem is connected between a computer and a telephone line and then the modem is instructed to dial the phone number of an Internet service provider (ISP) to connect to the Internet. The ISP must be a service provider with several dial-up modems waiting to accept dial-up calls. This kind of internet is slower than DSL.

History

In the late 20th century, dial-up service was the most common way of connecting to the Internet in most parts of the world. Since the middle of the 2000s it's been largely replaced by DSL and cable modem.