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WTF ARE THESE

Nathan Carstens
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Go to solution Solved by GoodBytes,
7 hours ago, Mira Yurizaki said:

If that's a USB Type B port, whoever colored it blue should be beaten with a wiffle-ball bat.

The modem is age old.

Back then they used to have USB 2.0 Type-B Ports on modems that are commonly colored blue. The color was mostly to bring attention to it. (Support can say: "Plug the blue wire to the blue plug...")

 

In my opinion, this connector made 0 sense back then, and I never understood who is the idiot that came up with this idea of putting one on a high-speed (at the time) modem, and why it got to be the industry standard for modem's to have it. Basically, you can connect the modem via USB instead of Ethernet. The problem is that USB 2.0 (to be brief), not only needed CPU to handle data transfer, but it also was unidirectional (can send or receive, not both at the same time).

 

So, by the time ADSL/Cable was wide spread, this was early 2000's, most computers had on board audio and Ethernet to start with.

Keep in mind that ADSL/Cable (<1-5Mbps) wasn't cheap either back then. Most people were on dial-up.

 

So, if you think about it:

 - If the user had a computer that doesn't have Ethernet because it is very old, or bought the shittiest system he/she could get, that just happen to not have Ethernet, then he probably and most likely, can't afford ADSL/Cable service to use the USB port.

 - If he/she can't afford an Ethernet adapter card, he/she definitely could not afford ADSL/Cable.

 - If he has a shitty computer, then his system is extremely weak, and cutting the performance of the single core, low-end, slow CPU just to to handle USB, will prevent the user from enjoying a "fast" web experience he/she is paying for. In other words, you download a page, the web browser tries to render the page with its images and all that, but it is slower than normal for the given system, as the CPU is busy not only for the web browsers, but also the USB port

 

But, I have seen several times (at the time) computers that have Ethernet, but is connected to the modem via USB. I guess, you had incompetence from the installer. Probably the installer was thinking that, if you don't have a router (which most people didn't back then), that the installer could install the modem to the PC via USB, not knowing how USB 2.0 works and its downfalls.

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5 minutes ago, Mira Yurizaki said:

If that's a USB Type B port, whoever colored it blue should be beaten with a wiffle-ball bat.

Lol

 

Here's a small dog for scale

20190107_100101.jpg

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Ah man, have people already forgot about the good ol' modem? Makes me feel old. 

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Just some old adsl modems. 

5 minutes ago, KE2012 said:

Makes me feel old. 

I concur sir 

 

1 hour ago, Mira Yurizaki said:

If that's a USB Type B port, whoever colored it blue should be beaten with a wiffle-ball bat.

They used to come in all sorts of colours!  mostly green and yellow and red for some reason. 

Silent build - You know your pc is too loud when the deaf complain. Windows 98 gaming build, smells like beige

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That is a modem! At least you can still use them in Near Zealand. 

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7 hours ago, Mira Yurizaki said:

If that's a USB Type B port, whoever colored it blue should be beaten with a wiffle-ball bat.

The modem is age old.

Back then they used to have USB 2.0 Type-B Ports on modems that are commonly colored blue. The color was mostly to bring attention to it. (Support can say: "Plug the blue wire to the blue plug...")

 

In my opinion, this connector made 0 sense back then, and I never understood who is the idiot that came up with this idea of putting one on a high-speed (at the time) modem, and why it got to be the industry standard for modem's to have it. Basically, you can connect the modem via USB instead of Ethernet. The problem is that USB 2.0 (to be brief), not only needed CPU to handle data transfer, but it also was unidirectional (can send or receive, not both at the same time).

 

So, by the time ADSL/Cable was wide spread, this was early 2000's, most computers had on board audio and Ethernet to start with.

Keep in mind that ADSL/Cable (<1-5Mbps) wasn't cheap either back then. Most people were on dial-up.

 

So, if you think about it:

 - If the user had a computer that doesn't have Ethernet because it is very old, or bought the shittiest system he/she could get, that just happen to not have Ethernet, then he probably and most likely, can't afford ADSL/Cable service to use the USB port.

 - If he/she can't afford an Ethernet adapter card, he/she definitely could not afford ADSL/Cable.

 - If he has a shitty computer, then his system is extremely weak, and cutting the performance of the single core, low-end, slow CPU just to to handle USB, will prevent the user from enjoying a "fast" web experience he/she is paying for. In other words, you download a page, the web browser tries to render the page with its images and all that, but it is slower than normal for the given system, as the CPU is busy not only for the web browsers, but also the USB port

 

But, I have seen several times (at the time) computers that have Ethernet, but is connected to the modem via USB. I guess, you had incompetence from the installer. Probably the installer was thinking that, if you don't have a router (which most people didn't back then), that the installer could install the modem to the PC via USB, not knowing how USB 2.0 works and its downfalls.

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5 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

Back then they used to have USB 2.0 Type-C Ports on modem colored blue or other colors, but mostly blue to bring visibility to it.

If that's the case, they could've went with the most contrasting color to black: White.

 

Standards be damned.

I have a blog! And a list of guides I've posted

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7 minutes ago, Mira Yurizaki said:

If that's the case, they could've went with the most contrasting color to black: White.

 

Standards be damned.

Oops, wanted to type Type-B, not C... fixed.

I don't think they thought about USB 3.0... they probably though that some other connector will take over... I mean, back then you had a lot of changes in the computer space. Beside, USB 3.0 is now started to be colored black/silver/white now, as all the ports in a system are all USB 3.0, and this allows the system to looks nicer, they make the port blend more with the case and not stick out like a sore thumb. Heck, some companies (too few in my opinion), even paint the USB connector casing black or some other color, to make it blend even more with the system, and even precision cut the USB connector so it is hidden more. I like this.... sadly, nothing of sorts for us custom builders. I guess OEMs always need some upper hand (before that is was OEMs always had faster BIOSs for faster startups... something you could not get from custom build systems)

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1 hour ago, RorzNZ said:

That is a modem! At least you can still use them in Near Zealand. 

I was wondering what u mentioned by near Zealand then I looked on my profile lol flicking autocorrect

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