Dial up!

almoststew1990 · 17 Aug 2017 at 19:47

I want to connect my Dreamcast to the internet. The easy way of doing this to get a connect your Dreamcast to a Raspberry Pi which has software pretending to be a phone line, or something, and this it allows you to connect your 56k modem Dreamcast to the internet using your normal broadband as the Dreamcast thinks it's just connecting like normal. I have 2 of the 4 bits of kit already and will soon order a USB modem and voltage inducer.

However, I hear you can also just connect it up to a dial-up connection if you still have one of those.

I have found various dodgy looking 'free' dial up services, which, for the cost of a 0844 call connects you to the net. So first of all, has anyone used these? I can't see any hidden costs, like a £5 connection charge or anything but I am still a bit nervous...

Secondly, I have virgin fibre broadband and the basic phone package. I don't have the virgin phone though, I probably have it on my package as it was impossible to deselect it. The Virgin fibre connects to 'the outside' through it's own connection on the wall, not the BT phone socket because it is fibre not ADSL.

So this means I currently have a BT phone line in the lounge which is not in use. Can I still use this for my dial-up experiments, or will Virgin have figuratively and/or literally cut off this connection?

Obviously the easiest way to try is to just plug a BT phone in and call someone, but I don't have one!

Tealc · 17 Aug 2017 at 20:00

Don't Virgin normally install one of their own phone master sockets as well as the cable hookup? They used to. It'll likely be marked clearly so there's no doubt who it belongs to.

Been a few years since we had Virgin.

If you plug into a 'dead' BT socket you'll not likely be able to make a call, although you may get a dial tone.

What can you actually do with Dreamcast online these days anyway?

I don't believe there are any hidden charges with 0844 numbers. It won't be cheap though. A few pence a minute, maybe as many as 10, plus connection charges. It won't likely be included in any call packages either.

almoststew1990 · 17 Aug 2017 at 20:08

online matches of Quake 3, Planet Ring, Phantasy Star Online are "scheduled" a couple of nights a week.

http://www.dreamcast-talk.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=4

This looks to be the original BT socket, so I will give it a try anyway. Our Virgin socket only has the one fibre input.

( |-| |2 ][ $ · 17 Aug 2017 at 20:33

If you're not paying line rental it won't work.

That's Virgin and/or BT.

almoststew1990 · 17 Aug 2017 at 20:34

( |-| |2 ][ $ said:
If you're not paying line rental it won't work.

That's Virgin and/or BT.

We are paying line rental sadly.

almoststew1990 · 17 Aug 2017 at 20:38

It turns out I don't have the right game(s) to configure the connection anyway. It seems slightly strange that Planet Ring (a free, online-only minigame collection distributed with a DC magazine, assumedly to promote the online functions) won't allow you create /edit your connection settings... Only select games come with a connection utility, as well as the Dreamkey disk which is a browser and connection utility (assuming it saves the settings to the memory card so any game can use them...)

Ah well, I'll wait until my copy of Quake III arrived which I ordered a couple of days ago anyway. And I'll probably give it a bash at my Dad's house as he has an active phoneline.

Glaucus · 17 Aug 2017 at 21:06

just why, just get the pi solution. Even if it was free why would you want to go the dial up route.
however it does not seem to be free or cheap. it appears to be 4p a minute plus a connection charge. Although virgin has such a long list of codes and prices.

almoststew1990 · 17 Aug 2017 at 21:13

I am going the Pi route; this was more of an experiment not a long term solution. You could quite easily say "just why!" to getting online at all!

However the Dial Up route does have some merits:

Much simpler to set up and 'turn on' every time you use it, with less paraphernalia scattered across my lounge.
Less to go wrong or be improperly configured
The Pi option costs £30 (sounds reasonable for a Pi, power supply and memory card bundle even if it is a Pi2) + £15 (USB modem) +£21 (USB Line Voltage Inverter) which equates to 330 minutes of 20p per minute. I seriously doubt I will be spending 5 and half hours online! (and wouldn't be bothering at all if I didn't already have a Pi and memory cards, and know how of buring images for it etc).
(edit) it is also actually faster, as the DreamPi route is limited to 33k whereas directly dialing up will (assumedly isp depending) allow for the modems full 56k.

Steeps · 17 Aug 2017 at 22:38

Didn't know it was still possible to get them online, I've got 2 consoles, 2 vga adapters and a stockpile of unplayed games I got when people were trading them in. Wish I'd tried to source a broadband adapter now.