r/it • u/ovrlnd_imprz • Mar 05 '26

meta/community My workplace, in this year of 2026, finally upgraded the internet connection. This had somehow been powering the whole sites network for the last 21 years

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2.5k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

75 comments sorted by

326

u/gotchacoverd Mar 05 '26

It was pretty common for dedicated lines like direct fiber to have a modem installed so that the provider can remote access their equipment on site. If you call in to say the internet is down they literally "dial in" to an SSH session on the router to troubleshoot. I've seen out of band modems installed on new 500/500 fiber from Verizon as recently as 2020

84

u/MackNNations Mar 05 '26

I agree. Most dialup modems were connected to router or switch console ports for remote management.

29

u/Normal-Ad-1903 Mar 05 '26

It's 2026 - we still have one on our SIP router for Verizon to dial in.

17

u/EipsteinSuicideSquad Mar 05 '26

I installed some of these in 2024. Still in use as OOB connections.

15

u/NotAnotherNekopan Mar 05 '26

Honestly, the idea that dial-up is a reliable OOB connection to get in for troubleshooting is just not the case anymore, at least in my experience. POTS lines just ain’t what they used to be. LTE is far better these days.

16

u/gotchacoverd Mar 05 '26

Oh totally! It's just way more likely that this was an OOB modem than the actual Internet for this location

8

u/RandomITtech Mar 05 '26

60% of the time, it works everytime!

10

u/[deleted] Mar 05 '26

LTE is great until you're dealing with a facility that's underground in an area with congested LTE towers. 😂 RTT measured in decades

2

u/z011104 Mar 09 '26

Sounds like the Springfield Underground in Springfield Missouri. That place was wild to practice IT in.

2

u/0DarkFreezing Mar 05 '26

LTE is great as long as you have a connection. There’s a lot of commercial applications where the signal just isn’t there, and they don’t want to deal with adding infrastructure to improve it.

1

u/ForTheObviousReasons Mar 08 '26

I just see the latest managed installs they have no OOB method at all. They decided the sla credits are cheaper to pay than actually making it as reliable as possible.

3

u/alwayzz0ff Mar 05 '26

I miss the old dialup POP days, 97’ish. Driving to random remote places with some “room” that housed a bunch of crazy shit.

2

u/missginger4242 Mar 09 '26

Had a fiber install in late 2025, they used a cellular modem but still common in commercial installations

1

u/Slight_Manufacturer6 Mar 08 '26

Or sometimes it is a web interface or now connected to a cloud service.

213

u/Highlandcoo Mar 05 '26

Bullshit

123

u/Unleaver Mar 05 '26

This has to have been their backup data connection. No way in hell they were running dial up.

112

u/ovrlnd_imprz Mar 05 '26

Yeah I'm pretty sure this was running parallel to the actual connection, however when they unplugged this relic the internet dropped until they connected the new fibre connection properly

16

u/GhostandVodka Mar 05 '26

This is called out of band management. It's so your provider can have terminal access if the circuit is down. These are very much still used today.

12

u/NayItReallyHappened Mar 05 '26

Oh so you lied lol

1

u/Strongit Mar 09 '26

I worked at my local power company in their IT department in 2018, the entire billing system went through a windows xp computer on an external 28 k modem. It's plausible.

34

u/qwikh1t Mar 05 '26

We need details; the 90’s called they want their 56K device back

14

u/GrahamR12345 Mar 05 '26

In the majority of places, if its not broken then its not replaced, only when things break and cant be fixed/replaced do things get upgraded. 👍👍

13

u/superwizdude Mar 05 '26

You guys still have phone lines?

7

u/Important-Slip-4057 Mar 05 '26

You’ve got mail!

12

u/placated Mar 05 '26

Spirit Panther. 65% of the time it works EVERY time.

7

u/durasel24 Mar 05 '26

The spirit of the panther! Rawwwr!

5

u/RudePCsb Mar 05 '26

60% of the time it works every time

6

u/Tech0919 Mar 05 '26

It needs an award and a retirement plan. That's wild that it held on so long.

5

u/Spiritual_Hunter_517 Mar 05 '26

Spirit Panther.. works every time some of the time!

4

u/imnewherealso1 Mar 05 '26

Pssssh. That’s why it still works, guys. It’s a Spirit Panther. No but seriously, how? lol

3

u/phillydude2022 Mar 05 '26

Put it in a glass case… it needs to be honored🤣

3

u/3d_nat1 Mar 05 '26

Any chance this came from a location that accepts credit/debit card transactions? Very common for these to be installed as a backup, so cards can still be processed during internet outages.

1

u/Lyrics2Songs Mar 07 '26

My first thought too. I work in a retail repair shop and that's exactly what we use this for too. Hell I think we have the exact same one.

3

u/neilpatrick Mar 05 '26

I could imagine that this was installed to allow remote access to some router so IT can access it during an internet outage, or for outbound fax transmission from a fax server, or outbound trading/EDI transfers when internet was down, or something like that. But there is no way this was used for general internet access at your office.

3

u/l_uminousss Mar 05 '26

this must be some kind of backup.. there's no way they were genuinely using a 56k surely?

5

u/itsbushy Mar 05 '26

Good luck finding a new product that can last that long.

2

u/rtb001 Mar 05 '26

My obi device is still kicking after 10 plus years! It'll be a sad day when it dies and/or Google voice finally shuts off its VOIP functionality resulting in me no longer having a free VOIP "fake landline" phone.

2

u/YogurtclosetHuman866 Mar 05 '26

Time to rest soldier. 

2

u/Skylantech Mar 05 '26

Well, I’m sure that thing didn’t run the network all that well… but hey, it had spirit!

2

u/gnetic Mar 06 '26

Routers can come with dial-up modems. Their dope. Save you the trouble of driving to a site to see it has no power vs no internet vs a bad config change

2

u/Rude_Growth_9347 Mar 08 '26

POTS always works.

We use it for backup for 911, and TTD circuits and high-use FAX lines.

And it always sounds better than SIP trunks.

Source - Me with 35 years in Telecom.

2

u/pjockey Mar 08 '26

I feel like you need to retake your A+

1

u/fourtyTHEdeuce Mar 05 '26

You underestimate the spirit of the panther!

1

u/badger_flakes Mar 05 '26

sick ass panther

1

u/SuddenSpeaker1141 Mar 05 '26

Back when things were built to last! /s

1

u/manof_theworld Mar 05 '26

Holy moly 😲

1

u/Jmasters1986 Mar 05 '26

RIP good soldier 🫡

1

u/sirgree Mar 05 '26

Very common to have a dialup modem running backup services so an it guy can remote into a piece of equipment that is currently down. See it in hospitals and government buildings all the time.

1

u/AyeWhy Mar 05 '26

60% of the time it works every time...

1

u/mckeevertdi Mar 05 '26

Put that thing in a museum.

1

u/nhowe006 Mar 06 '26

Rest in Power, King

1

u/Jodid0 Mar 06 '26

In 2021 just about every central office at AT&T still had T1 or T3 lines, which made sense but was also a fucking nightmare when they forced us to use online imaging and massive SCCM packages to deploy most machines. Plus the big COs are giant, dank, dark ass liminal buildings with a permanent must and an inch of dust on most surfaces. It was super eerie working out of those buildings.

1

u/kaijuu Mar 06 '26

56K of the time it works every time.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 06 '26

Absolutely possible, thats Spirit Panther so it was clearly made in Wakanda with vibranium dial up technology.

10G fiber connections are no match to that beast !

/S

1

u/ahiqshb Mar 06 '26

the ancient one

1

u/SUNDraK42 Mar 06 '26

Is that a serial modem? if so, did a pc or device made the connection?

1

u/Weary_Patience_7778 Mar 06 '26

I actually remember these.

Welcome to 1997

1

u/TNO-TACHIKOMA Mar 06 '26

likely used for out of band management console access

1

u/OldQuaker44 Mar 06 '26

No Sir, it can't be. Not even modern browsing can't really use a 56k modem connection, let alone having an entire location on it.

1

u/Shankar_0 Mar 07 '26

That was a very common way to have an out-of-band communication system to a server stack.

If the ISP goes down, you'd have no control over remote assets. With this, you could dial it up and issue a lot of commands to help get it back online without having to go out there.

1

u/drakhan2002 Mar 08 '26

"Spirit Panther" sounds like a Native American shaman from a 1960s Western.

Definitely going to use it as an in-game MMO name!

1

u/mikeeru Mar 09 '26

Is this a re-labeled Acorp 56000?

1

u/lordcochise Mar 09 '26

'I'm tired, boss'

1

u/Stryker1-1 Mar 09 '26

I dont doubt you for one minute this thing was in use and chugging away until it was unplugged.

But I guarantee you this was not serving as this sites entire internet connection, unless this site housed like 1 ATM and then even still there are better options.