Alexis Madrigal at The Atlantic remembers the sound of a dial-up modem so fondly that he has scoured the internet to find out exactly what all those grating tones meant.

The sound of waiting for your dial-up modem to connect probably induces enough nightmarish flashbacks as it is. But when you slow that same smattering of scratches and clangs down 700%, you get ...

The sound of a modem connecting wasn’t just noise—it was the sound of the future arriving. Now, that sound is gone for good. After 34 years, AOL is hanging up. The age of patient internet is over.

AOL rolled out its dial-up service in 1989, when lawmakers were focused on closing the "digital divide," the idea that people living in poorer or more rural areas would not have equitable access to ...

Researchers at the University at Buffalo have floated their first wireless internet modems, designed for underwater use. They're gigantic, slow, and noisy, but they could be a step toward making ...