Dial Concentrators - TNT / APX8000 R.I.P.

Wed May 12 16:56:31 UTC 2010

Mark Foster wrote:
> On Wed, May 12, 2010 4:38 am, Justin Wilson wrote:
>   
>> There are those ppl who just want to do e-mail, are comfortable with
>> dial-up, don¹t want to pay for than $5-10 for internet, and can¹t get
>> anything else.
>>     
>
>
> Indeed. The arguments for alternatives based on the fact theyre cheap,
> don't counter the fact that it's not available _everywhere_.
>
> Thus the wider concern I flagged; if the only source for equipment and
> spares is the grey market, aren't the vendors missing the boat on
> something which shouldn't even have a major overhead to maintain?
>   

The source for equipment and spares isn't the "grey market" - it's the 
USED market.  There should be ample used equipment to meet the small 
amount of dial-up equipment purchases needs for years to come as many 
ISPs phase out dial-up equipment and services and offer their old (still 
working but no-longer-needed) dial-up equipment for resale.

> What about developing nations where Internet isn't yet as commonplace as
> it is in the 'west' ?
>   

Most developing nations today are leapfrogging right over POTS and 
dial-up into a cellular/wireless infrastructure.  This is why there is 
so little demand for dial-up infrastructure equipment.

If there's a significant need for dial-up equipment and support then at 
least one company will provide legacy support, perhaps act as a reseller 
to help provision used dial-up equipment and recondition the equipment etc.

You *can* still buy brand new buggy whips:

http://www.jedediahsbuggywhip.com/
http://www.drivingessentials.com/Whips.htm

There are still vendors selling thousands of different types of radio 
tubes, even though they haven't been manufactured for many years:

http://www.vacuumtubes.net/

jc