Dialup label update?

Hi
Something that looks like a legacy of times long past.
Is it time that the “Dialup” label is updated to something more modern??
dialup

WAN?

What is wrong with the word ‘dialup’?
PPP protocols are dialup protocols.

‘WAN’ would be wrong. There are other WAN connections, mostly DHCP based.

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Hi
OK so WAN isn’t a good choice either but I think it is likely there are people reading this who are too young to have seen an actual dial-up modem. I don’t recall seeing a dial-up modem running for at least 20 years.

Hi,

I agree with Bernhard, and think it is a good idea to stick the technically correct term.

Regarding dial-up modems: True, the ones that go “beep boop beep boop” are pretty much extinct nowadays. However, in countries such as Germany, DSL still is the internet connectivity method - which involves a dial-in procedure, although we cannot hear it anymore. :slight_smile:

Yes, the term reminisces of a past. However, if you use IPFire on ARM devices, you may need to set up a serial connection to it, which is also pretty much a thing of the 90s, but still works today.

Thanks, and best regards,
Peter Müller

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another perspective:
to name the facts: at the wui there is no WAN configurable, one has to enter the textbased setup to configure WAN! and if WAN is kind of DiAL-UP one can finish additional settings via the wui → system → dialup :phone:
:man_shrugging:

Hi
I think this is the difference between user friendly, or not.
While it might be technically correct to use “dial up”, I would suggest that typical users have never seen a dial-up modem, yet alone configured one. I have fibre to my house, and the label on the box says it is an “Optical Network Terminal”. No mention of modem. If I called up ISP support, about a dial-up fibre modem, their first question would likely be “Do you mean the ONT?”

I have the same issue with >ipFIre>Pacfire.
I had to look at the documentation to find what that meant. I shouldn’t need to read documentation just to find the backup/update feature. The menu command should say what it does, not the name of software package is used.

I stumble over this topic a few days ago and after pondering a bit I wonder if I can not add a little bit to both sides of the argument.

First of all we must all recognize that IPFire is due to change over time, it’s IT, it will change. I haven’t looked at any of the newer versions that are available for testing, so I do not know what changes will or will not occur. Having said that we have the never ending potential conflict between usability and functionality.

One of they key usability elements is the interface. Its colours, descriptions, layout, functions.

You ask about one particular item called “Dialup”. Well, I agree, it should not be called “Dialup”, it should have been called “Modem”, since all dial up connections are modems. xDSL or otherwise. I had all of them. I have been through all the consumer oriented technologies to connect to Internet.

So “Modem” would be the most correct in that perspective and in that menu.

Now, what about current and future tech? Well, I would suggest a split menu option, or an additional menu option, called Fiber, or Optical, not sure what would be the must self explanatory. Another relevant term is CATV connectivity, connection via TV cabling.

Wikipedia:

Access providers
Access provider ISPs provide Internet access, employing a range of technologies to connect users to their network. Available technologies have ranged from computer modems with acoustic couplers to telephone lines, to television cable (CATV), Wi-Fi, and fiber optics.

For users and small businesses, traditional options include copper wires to provide dial-up, DSL, typically asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL), cable modem or Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) (typically basic rate interface). Using fiber-optics to end users is called Fiber To The Home or similar names.

Customers with more demanding requirements (such as medium-to-large businesses, or other ISPs) can use higher-speed DSL (such as single-pair high-speed digital subscriber line), Ethernet, metropolitan Ethernet, gigabit Ethernet, Frame Relay, ISDN Primary Rate Interface, ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) and synchronous optical networking (SONET).

Wireless access is another option, including cellular and satellite Internet access.

WAN is not a “connect to internet” technology. It is an OSI term. So it would be dead wrong in this context.

I would suggest using the terms Modem, Fiber and perhaps TV, since the latter use coaxial cabling and separate boxes and thus easy to recognize as a different tech.

Just my “2cents”.

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