Technology · 2
What was the name of the distinctive dial-up connection sound that millions of households heard every time they tried to get online in the 1990s?
Answer
Handshake tone
The sequence of squeals, hisses, and static that dial-up modems produced was called the handshake tone — the audible negotiation between two modems as they agreed on a communication protocol. ISPs like AOL made this sound iconic in the 1990s.
💡 Did you know?
The dial-up handshake sound has been preserved by the British Library as a culturally significant audio artifact of the late 20th century.
Other options people guess
- Carrier signal
- Ping tone
- Sync chime
Topics
- dial-up
- 1990s
- internet
- modems
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