How to make ringtones for an Android phone
We’ve been making custom ringtones on our phones for years now, but with today’s smartphones, everything has gotten easier. Here, we’ll run you through the process of making a custom ringtone for your Android device using a multitude of methods, including RingDroid, GarageBand, and AVCWare Ringtone Maker. Setting your phone to play Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You every time your latest Tinder date calls has never been easier.
More: Music junkie? Here are 25 of our favorite apps for consuming and creating tunes
How to Make a Ringtone using Ringdroid
RingDroid is an intuitive app that lets you create ringtones from any WAV, 3GPP, ARM, AAC, MP4, or MPE3 audio file you have on your Android phone. The process is straightforward and easy to grasp, at least after one or two attempts. The best part? It’s completely free, and you can create ringtones without your computer on hand.
Copy the song to your phone’s internal storage
Connect and mount your Android phone to your computer.
Choose the song you want to use for your ringtone and copy it onto your Android phone like you normally would. Feel free to eject your phone after adding the song you want to use.
Create the ringtone using RingDroid
Launch RingDroid. You can grab the app for free on Google Play, if you don’t have it already.
RingDroid will list all the music on your phone when opened. Scroll through the list, or use the search bar at the top, and locate the song you’d like to use for your ringtone.
Tap the song title to select it.
Adjust the markers and select the part of the song you want to use as your ringtone. Keep in mind that Android ringtones continually run in 30-second (or less) loops.
Tap the floppy disc icon at the top once you’re satisfied with your selection.
Name the ringtone and select the type of audio file you’d like to save it as.
Assign the ringtone using RingDroid
Within the app, choose whether your want to make the clip your default ringtone or assign it to a specific contact.
Assign the ringtone through your phone’s settings menu
Go to Settings > Sound & Notification > Ringtone > More ringtones.
Choose your desired ringtone.
Assign the ringtone through your phone’s contacts menu
Open Contacts and select your desired contact.
Tap the pencil icon in the upper-right corner.
Tap the More menu (
) in the upper-right corner.
Select Set Ringtone > More ringtones.
Choose your desired ringtone for that contact.
How to make ringtones for an Android phone
We’ve been making custom ringtones on our phones for years now, but with today’s smartphones, everything has gotten easier. Here, we’ll run you through the process of making a custom ringtone for your Android device using a multitude of methods, including RingDroid, GarageBand, and AVCWare Ringtone Maker. Setting your phone to play Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You every time your latest Tinder date calls has never been easier.
More: Music junkie? Here are 25 of our favorite apps for consuming and creating tunes
How to Make a Ringtone using Ringdroid
RingDroid is an intuitive app that lets you create ringtones from any WAV, 3GPP, ARM, AAC, MP4, or MPE3 audio file you have on your Android phone. The process is straightforward and easy to grasp, at least after one or two attempts. The best part? It’s completely free, and you can create ringtones without your computer on hand.
Copy the song to your phone’s internal storage
Connect and mount your Android phone to your computer.
Choose the song you want to use for your ringtone and copy it onto your Android phone like you normally would. Feel free to eject your phone after adding the song you want to use.
Create the ringtone using RingDroid
Launch RingDroid. You can grab the app for free on Google Play, if you don’t have it already.
RingDroid will list all the music on your phone when opened. Scroll through the list, or use the search bar at the top, and locate the song you’d like to use for your ringtone.
Tap the song title to select it.
Adjust the markers and select the part of the song you want to use as your ringtone. Keep in mind that Android ringtones continually run in 30-second (or less) loops.
Tap the floppy disc icon at the top once you’re satisfied with your selection.
Name the ringtone and select the type of audio file you’d like to save it as.
Assign the ringtone using RingDroid
Within the app, choose whether your want to make the clip your default ringtone or assign it to a specific contact.
Assign the ringtone through your phone’s settings menu
Go to Settings > Sound & Notification > Ringtone > More ringtones.
Choose your desired ringtone.
Assign the ringtone through your phone’s contacts menu
Open Contacts and select your desired contact.
Tap the pencil icon in the upper-right corner.
Tap the More menu (
) in the upper-right corner.
Select Set Ringtone > More ringtones.
Choose your desired ringtone for that contact.
Galaxy S7 review re-do: Old hotness
Samsung’s Galaxy S8 is primed to be one of the biggest phones of the year. But at prices that reach all the way up to $850, you’d be forgiven for wanting to wait on it. That means its a good time to look at one of the hottest phones of last year, the Galaxy S7. Is it still worth putting down your hard-earned dollars for last year’s leftovers?
I’m Michael Fisher, secret agent code name MrMobile, and I’ve spent a ton of time with the Galaxy S7. In fact, almost every handheld shot in the MrMobile YouTube library came courtesy of the Galaxy S7 edge mounted to a gyro, so you could say I know the S7 better than most phones in my library. So if you’re stuck firmly on the fence when it comes to the big Galaxy S8 vs Galaxy S7 question, let’s try to figure it out together. Watch MrMobile’s Galaxy S7 review re-do!
Still unsure after that scintillating video? Hit up Android Central’s coverage of the Galaxy S7. And don’t forget to check out their coverage of the Galaxy S8 for all of the latest news!
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Samsung’s Orchid Gray Galaxy S8 is a sign of more beautiful things to come
Android smartphones are entering a design renaissance. The color of the chassis is just the beginning of it.
It was wonderful to see Samsung adopt a fresh new color for the Galaxy S8 and S8+. The color is called Orchid Gray and it’s a lilac-hued pastel that’s unlike the shiny golds and reflective silver-covered phone bodies we’ve seen proliferating throughout the industry. This is no girly rose-gold either — Orchid Gray is indubitably gender neutral, which is exactly the way smartphone design should be.
It’s nice to see that the Orchid Gray version isn’t specifically being targeted at women.
The Galaxy S8 and S8+ are merely following a trend, however. The HTC U Ultra, released a few months ago, is a stunning smartphone in its own right. Its hardware is not particularly spectacular when compared to the competition, but the blue variant is almost worth owning just to display on a mantel. The reimagined LG G6is also fab in its own rugged and metrosexual manner, and we’ve been watching Chinese smartphone brands attempt to set a stylish precedent overseas for quite some time.
We’re entering into a bona fide Android smartphone renaissance, where the smartphone in your hand is not just a utility, but an expression of your individualized self. And every premium Android manufacturer wants to show off what it can do.
Why the Galaxy S8 in Orchid Gray is so great
For the past several years, typical smartphone colors have been black, white, and gray. If you were lucky, you wielded a gold phone because you held out for one. Or you’re me, and you skimped out on storage space because you wanted to be one of the first people with a really blue Pixel XL.
Orchid Gray isn’t a special edition color. It’s part of the main lineup, though I imagine it will be sold in limited quantities compared to the other color offerings — the same way the pink (LG G5)[/lg-g5] was hard to find, for instance, or the aforementioned blue Pixel XL. The Orchid Gray is particularly outstanding because it is different from the status quo, much like the blue Pixel stands out when everyone else is holding an iPhone.
Smartphone design is still prone to stereotypes, too, so it’s nice to see that the Orchid Gray isn’t being marketed as meant for women, though its hue is malleable enough that it could be if you wanted it to. For instance, guys with a stylish side who typically wear lighter colors could choose this variant of the Galaxy S8 so it matches their trendy threads, while gals with a wild neon side could choose it to keep the color flowing (though I personally think the Arctic Silver variant would be more fitting).
There are a couple of other special edition colors coming to market, including Coral Blue, which was first introduced on the Note 7, and Maple Gold. These extra colors feel like collector’s items, and it makes me want to scope them out just so that I could be one of the few people with one in my hand. And that’s the point, isn’t it?
Which color Galaxy S8 should I buy?
What’s next?
There’s no doubt that the Galaxy S8 and S8+ are a boon to smartphone design. Look at the symmetrical curvature of the chassis; the way the screen flows into the itty bit of bezel that exists. It’s certainly a work of art, one that’s ergonomic and comfortable to hold, despite the fact that the fingerprint sensor might be a little too high for some fingers. What’s next? Is it the eventual elimination of the bezel in its entirety?
The latter half of the year will hopefully help answer that as sales reports start trickling in. I’ll be curious to see if Samsung’s design prowess can keep it floating at the top of the smartphone charts and whether the stylish precedent set by the Galaxy Note 7 was enough to keep people interested.
The Orchid Gray is particularly outstanding because it is different from the status quo, much like the blue Pixel stands out when everyone else is holding an iPhone.
I can’t help but wonder if all this design innovation is done in vein, though. Look at the iPhone: despite its relatively unchanged chassis, people continue to buy the iPhone because they know what they’re getting with every model. They trust that Apple has at least marginally improved each generation compare its predecessor, enough for them to justify to upgrade — even if that upgrade means no headphone jack. When will Android users be able to rely on that sort of consistency? At least with the Galaxy series, it looks like the answer is ‘Yes’.
Samsung Galaxy S8 and S8+
- Galaxy S8 and S8+ hands-on preview!
- Galaxy S8 and S8+ specs
- Everything you need to know about the Galaxy S8’s cameras
- Get to know Samsung Bixby
- Join our Galaxy S8 forums
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Learn how to Code and Create with your Raspberry Pi for just $19
The Raspberry Pi 3 is an amazingly low cost, mini-computer that can be used in so many incredible projects, from homemade arcade cabinets, robotics, home automation, or simply as a micro-sized computer. But to truly get the most out of the Raspberry Pi, you’ll want to learn about everything you can tweak and customize, along with picking up some coding skills, familiarity with Linux, and starting an internet-connected or robotics-based project.
Get The Complete Raspberry Pi 3 Training Bundle for only $19! Learn More
You need The Complete Raspberry Pi 3 Training Bundle, offered to you for a steep discount by Windows Central Digital Offers. The bundle includes everything you need to hit the ground running with your Raspberry Pi 3.
For only $19, you’ll get access to six valuable online courses that will teach you the essentials — from installing a different operating system to using your Raspberry Pi as a web server — to more technical projects like testing network security, homemade robotics, and even creating a Beowulf Cluster of linked Raspberry Pi for maximum computing power and parallel programming.
Get The Complete Raspberry Pi 3 Training Bundle for only $19! Learn More
This could be the start of a great new hobby, or even jumpstart a career in the tech field — it all depends on your willingness to learn and experiment.
To be clear, this bundle DOES NOT include the Raspberry Pi itself, but fortunately they are very cheap and readily available online and also available as part of a handy starter kit. From there, all you need to get started is this great bundle of online courses.
SpaceX might reland Falcon Heavy’s upper stage this summer
Hot on the heels of Falcon 9’s historic flight, SpaceX chief Elon Musk has revealed on Twitter that Falcon Heavy’s first flight is scheduled for late summer this year. He also announced that the company is considering trying to reland and retrieve the rocket’s upper stage during the demo, though that’s probably much easier said than done. The bigger vehicle is no Falcon 9. It’s an entirely different beast that has three cores instead of one — SpaceX equipped the rocket it’s launching this year with two pre-flown boosters — and will be able to carry twice the cargo it can.
The company says it was “shockingly difficult to go from a single core to a triple-core vehicle.” And while it already ironed out most of the issues brought about by using three cores, the demo flight will still be very risky. It’s even loading something silly on board for the test, maybe something sillier than the big wheel of cheese it launched to space aboard the Dragon capsule’s maiden flight in 2010.
SpaceX has to be able to retrieve parts of Falcon Heavy someday if it wants to fulfill its dream of sending humans to colonize Mars on a reusable spaceship called “Interplanetary Transport System.” But for now, it has more attainable goals lined up for the near future, including using more pre-flown boosters, retrieving a Falcon 9’s second stage and relaunching a used rocket 24 hours after its first flight.
Falcon Heavy test flight currently scheduled for late summer
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 31, 2017
Source: Elon Musk (Twitter), SpaceNews
Alexa on the Huawei Mate 9 isn’t worth the effort (yet)
It’s time to call it: Amazon has conquered the smart home industry. From connected appliance makers and game creators to television networks and even financial institutions, everyone is jumping aboard the Alexa train. But Amazon is eyeing a new domain: your smartphone. And its bid for a presence in phones faces stiff competition from existing assistants. Still, when Huawei announced at CES that it would bring Alexa to its Mate 9 flagship, we were intrigued. But we didn’t know quite what to expect, since details at the time were scant. Now that the update has begun rolling out in the US, though, we have a clearer picture of what Alexa can do here. Turns out, the benefits of having Amazon’s helper on a phone are limited, and require too much effort to be practical.
Let’s start with the biggest flaw: Each time you want to talk to Alexa on the Mate 9, you’ll first have to open the Huawei Alexa app by tapping it. For a service that Huawei itself calls “a primarily voice-driven experience,” the lack of hotword support is puzzling. I’m used to hollering at Siri from across the room, asking her to take notes or give me weather updates when my hands are occupied. When I wanted to get the Mate 9’s Alexa to turn on a switch in my apartment, I had to walk over to the phone, unlock it, find the app, tap it and then say “Alexa, turn on closet WeMo.” I could have walked over to the switch and turned it on thrice in the time it took me to ask Alexa to do so. An always-listening assistant would have saved me four steps.
Plus, having a continued conversation with Alexa becomes frustrating if there are long pauses between your commands, since the phone goes to sleep after its preset time (between 15 seconds and 10 minutes) and you’ll have to unlock if you want to talk to the assistant again. You could work around this by setting your Mate 9 to only go to sleep after 30 minutes of inactivity (the maximum period allowed), but that’s a compromise security-minded folks won’t likely tolerate.
Still, it’s a flaw I’m willing to overlook since having Alexa on a smartphone is not just about hands-free convenience. Amazon’s helper currently has a more robust set of functions than its rivals, with more than 7,000 skills that enable voice control for a plethora of services. Many of these are available on the Mate 9, but a few big ones are missing. In particular, not being able to play music or set alarms and reminders feel like major oversights, considering these are the tools I use most frequently on the Echo. Thankfully, at least, you can still use Google Assistant or Siri for those tasks.
Despite these shortcomings, the Alexa integration still offers a few conveniences. If the phone is already in your hands or within reach, and you want to do more than simply turn on a light, it’s easy to just open the app and say, “Alexa, change the lights to movie mode.” For Mate 9 owners who want to link their smart home devices to Amazon’s helper but don’t want to shell out for the Echo or Echo Dot, this is a nice bonus. Alexa on the Mate 9 also responded quickly to my commands and understood me most of the time even with noisy coworkers in the background.
But it’s not a feature that will convince shoppers to buy a Mate 9. Android users can lean on the Google Assistant to carry out similar tasks. Many smart home devices already work with Google Home, and more are expected to join in, making the Assistant potentially as capable as Alexa.
On iOS, you can choose between Siri or Alexa via the Amazon app. Just as it is on the Mate 9, hotword support is missing for Alexa on iPhones, although that’s less of a surprise considering Apple’s notoriously closed-off OS. You can ask Alexa to stream music from stations in Amazon’s iOS app, though, so the Mate 9’s inability to do so is strange indeed.
To be fair, music playback may roll out to the Mate 9 in the future, along with some other features. During a phone briefing last month, vice president of Huawei Device USA Vincent Wen told reporters that setting alarms with Alexa is “coming very soon,” and to “stay tuned to future versions” for music support. No specific time frame was given for these updates. Huawei and Amazon’s partnership on this project feels rushed, and I wish they had waited until the integration was more complete before pushing it out.
Ultimately, Alexa on the Mate 9 is a telling and underwhelming preview of what Amazon might have in the works for its assistant on smartphones. On both iOS and the Mate 9, voice activation is missing. There isn’t an official Android version of Alexa yet, but always-listening is also rare on third-party offerings. Amazon needs to find a way to enable that capability and support the most commonly used skills for Alexa on smartphones to truly be helpful. Meanwhile, there are plenty of standalone devices other than the Echo speakers that offer Alexa support. Huawei’s flagship is a capable phablet with its own artificial intelligence baked in, and doesn’t benefit from the Alexa implementation in its current form.
Happy April Fools’ Day 2017: Siri, iFixit Micro Tech Toolkit, AirRings, Ms. Pac-Man Maps, and More
Today is April 1, 2017, otherwise known as April Fools’ Day, and as you are likely aware that means over the next few hours you should be highly wary of anything you see, read, or hear online. As MacRumors has covered over the past few years, tech companies love to prank their customers with silly products, out-there announcements, and largely weird press releases meant to highlight the jovial holiday.
April 1, 2017 also marks the 41st anniversary of Apple, with Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne having solidified their partnership on this day all those years ago in 1976. Now, Apple itself has become a major target for April Fools’ Day pranks, as well as various other companies, apps, services, and accessory makers that are well-known by Apple users.
We have collected some of the more interesting hoaxes and jokes into a list below, but remember that some contain mildly NSFW content and language, so you may want to use headphones or watch the videos in a private location.
Siri
Siri is recognizing April Fools’ Day in some of its responses today, including refusing to flip a coin upon request.
iFixit’s Micro Tech Toolkit
iFixit has announced an all-new toolkit that it says is aimed at the smallest devices on the market, including the Apple Watch and AirPods. The $19.95 Micro Tech Toolkit comes with a magnetized driver handle, easy-to-open tool roll, micro pliers, micro spudger, an iFixit micro opening tool, and three precision bits.
Thanks to the vast array of tools being sold on iFixit’s online store, the Micro Tech Toolkit is at first a somewhat believable offering from the teardown site. For anyone not yet convinced of its status as an April Fools’ Day prank, however, the accompanying launch video has testimony from iFixit’s Micro Tech Tool Expert — Howard the Hamster. Additionally, one repair story on the toolkit’s storefront written by Ralph the Mouse appears to be a reference to Beverly Cleary’s popular children’s book The Mouse and the Motorcycle.
Ms. Pac-Man in Google Maps
Beginning yesterday, users discovered that Google has added a functioning version of the classic video game Ms. Pac-Man directly into its iOS Google Maps app. You can now control Ms. Pac-Man and hunt for ghosts and pellets in a re-skin of the game that turns the streets of your local neighborhood into a maze of Ms. Pac-Man corridors.
Netflix Live
Netflix launched an all-new streaming show it’s calling “Netflix Live,” allowing customers to receive fascinating tidbits of information about copiers, toasters, and pencil sharpeners from actor Will Arnett. The popular streaming company claims that the “live” show is a new addition to its ever-growing stable of original content, but — as many have figured out since yesterday — it’s yet another one of Netflix’s April Fools’ Day pranks.
For the morbidly curious, you can watch the 48-minute, not-actually-live burrito commentary series right now on the Netflix streaming device of your choice. If it’s anything like last year’s John Stamos: A Human, Being “documentary,” it probably won’t be on the service for long.
AirRings
Twelve South has revealed “AirRings,” which the company says will let you “effortlessly transform your AirPods into earrings.” AirRings come in different styles for both men and women, including cuffs, bands and drop style earrings, so you can listen to your music on AirPods without sacrificing your style.
USB-Speed of Light by Moshi
If you’re tired of the confusing array of USB-Type A and USB-Type C cables, Moshi today announced the one USB solution to end them all: USB-Speed of Light (USB-SL for short). The accessory manufacturer calls USB-SL “the next-next-generation in charging and connectivity,” and should top off your MacBook Pro in mere seconds.
With the additional USB-SL to Gigabit Ethernet Adapter “the future is truly and literally at your fingertips,” providing an internet connection so fast you can catch up on your email and other notifications that have yet to arrive. Similarly, the USB-SL to HDMI Adapter provides the ultimate, crystal clear video experience “from any point in time.”
Other Pranks, Jokes, and Hoaxes:
The T-Mobile ONEsie – a full-body wearable that provides truly unlimited coverage
Google Gnome – a lawn gnome version of Google Home
Petlexa – Amazon Echo’s Alexa now understands your pets
We’ll update this post throughout April Fools’ Day in the event that any new pranks surface.
Tag: April Fools’ Day
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The Morning After: Weekend Edition
Letter from the Editor
Apple may have scrapped its rumored March press event, but fortunately, we were able to count on Samsung for some good old-fashioned spectacle. Actually, by the company’s standards, Wednesday’s Galaxy S8 launch in New York was fairly tame: There was no orchestra onstage, and attendees looking for VR headsets underneath their seats were left empty-handed. Instead, we got the heavily leaked Galaxy S8 (and S8+), along with a healthy dose of humility — yes, Samsung is still very sorry about those exploding Note 7s.
All told, the phones themselves look promising, with nearly bezel-less displays that make the devices easier to hold than their 5.8- and 6.2-inch screen sizes would have you believe. Samsung’s face-recognizing personal assistant Bixby looks interesting too, though we’re gonna call BS on the company’s pitch that these devices represent a fresh form factor for phones — they’re still just boxes, guys. Oh, and can Samsung succeed where other companies have failed, and make phone-powered desktops a thing? Only time will tell, but suffice to say, we have some questions.
There was so much happening at Samsung’s one-hour press event that you may have missed, well, lots of other things going on this week. Just a few hours before the Samsung event, the first reviews of Microsoft’s upcoming Windows 10 Creators Update hit the internet. We’re especially excited about built-in game streaming and some new Edge browser features, but you might end up downloading it just for Paint 3D.
Meanwhile, in more sobering news, Democrats pushed the issue of cybersecurity, and the Trump administration claimed coal can be a form of clean energy. Don’t want to think about politics, hackers and smoke clouds as you kick off the weekend? Here, check out this video from our Rock Band VR review, and make sure you keep watching to the very end.
— Dana Wollman, Executive Editor
SlowlyAndroid Wear 2.0 is rolling out to a few more devices
After a brief delay, the new version of Android for wearables is hitting more smartwatches. The Polar M600, Nixon Mission, Fossil Q Wander, Fossil Q Marshal and Michael Kors Access join the Fossil Q Founder, Casio Smart Outdoor Watch WSD-F10 and TAG Heuer Connected on the update list that so many other older devices will never join. Hopefully, your wristwear is on the list, though, because it looks like version 2.0 is worth the wait.
That’s one way to fix the problemTwitter is changing its default profile pic
Twitter had the idea that new users would “hatch” into birds — like its logo — before sending tweets, so it made the default profile image an egg. Unfortunately, over the years, anonymous trolls have associated the egg with every kind of hate and filth you can imagine, and probably some you can’t. Now Twitter is adjusting the head and shoulders of its default pic to be more inclusive and assigning a neutral gray color scheme to give them less prominence.
A special kind of crazyMeet bargain-store ‘Iron Man’
UK inventor Richard Browning strapped six kerosene-powered microjets to his arms and took flight — sort of. His suit flies low and slow, and while that may not quite meet the bar of a Marvel movie special effect, Browning claims it’s safe.
Moore’s Law will continueIntel: Our next chips will be a ‘generation ahead’ of Samsung
Intel’s 10nm “Cannon Lake” chips have hit some delays, but it’s still confident that when they arrive, it will outpace the competition from Samsung and TSMC. With “hyper scaling” that will allow for more transistors, it expects to produce CPUs with 25 percent faster performance than current Kaby Lake chips, and 45 percent lower power use.
It worksSpaceX stuck the landing with a reusable rocket
ICYMI, this week SpaceX proved its model works — by launching and landing a previously-used orbital rocket booster. Relive the breakthrough right here.
But wait, there’s more…
- Self-assembling wires could lead to faster processors
- The Engadget Podcast Ep 34: Intergalactic – All Samsung, all the time.
- Pornhub adds HTTPS to keep your kinks private
- Watch Samsung’s Galaxy S8 event in under nine minutes
- Netflix nabs ‘Archer’ team for its first animated feature ‘America: The Motion Picture’
- Blizzard’s first eSports stadium opens just in time for Overwatch World Cup competition
The Morning After is a new daily newsletter from Engadget designed to help you fight off FOMO. Who knows what you’ll miss if you don’t subscribe.
What’s it like to use AOL dial-up internet in 2017?
Remember dial-up? It wasn’t so long ago that a 56K modem was the default method of getting online. The unforgettable sound of a successful connection. The undisputable inconvenience of occupying the phone line. The sheer sense of speed as web pages filled your screen piece by piece.
Rather than just buying a dial-up subscription, you need to opt in to a package that’s packed with junk that you likely don’t need.
However, dial-up isn’t completely dead. There are many areas in the United States where broadband infrastructure was never put in place, so residents are forced to stick with dial-up. On top of that, there’s a category of users who choose dial-up over broadband to save money. A 2013 report by the Pew Research Center indicated that three percent of Americans were still using a dial-up connection — a small, but significant slice of the population.
I wondered what it was like to use dial-up today. Is it too slow to get anything done? Or are we spoiled by the ubiquity of Wi-Fi and LTE, and dial-up internet isn’t that bad? Hug your modern router in close, and make sure you appreciate how good today’s internet service is, because taking a step back into yesteryear is no fun.
Please Hold
It was easy to subscribe to AOL back in the day. Installation disks flowed like an endless river, with households in the United States and further afield being subjected to an unending onslaught of these CDs and DVDs via their mailboxes.
Today, things are a little more complex. Dial-up internet access is just one component of the AOL Advantage Premium plan — which is not to be confused with other plans like Advantage Plus, Advantage Premium Plus, and Total Advantage Platinum Plus.
Bryan Ochalla / Flickr
All these plans contain a cavalcade of features and benefits, ranging from a discount on FiOS bundles, to a piece of software designed to “disguise your keystrokes so hackers can’t see the sensitive information you type.” Rather than just taking out a dial-up subscription, you need to opt in to a package that’s packed with junk that you likely don’t need.
The cheapest option I could find was priced at $14.99 per month. I signed up without issue, but once my subscription was active, there was no obvious way of taking advantage of the dial-up connection I was owed. Back in the 1990s, I would have expected to received an information packet in the mail, at the very least, but this is where the bloated package I subscribed to really came back to bite me.
My AOL Advantage Premium Plan had so many “added benefits” beyond dial-up, that informing me of how to use everything included would have been completely overwhelming. Instead, AOL gives users a drip-feed of information about their plan. In the weeks following the creation of my account, I received emails about activating various features. Perhaps, if I waited long enough, I’d get one about setting up my dial-up connection.
More: 83-year-old gets hit with $24,289 bill from AT&T by using AOL’s dial-up service
The assumption seems to be that anyone pursuing dial-up in 2017 probably knows what they’re doing, and doesn’t need any direction. Even though millions of people in the U.S. still rely on dial-up, that number is dwindling — while existing users continue to use their connections, there aren’t many new users joining their ranks.
I wasn’t entirely sure of what to do next, so I decided to call AOL support. I was connected to a courteous and diligent representative with no idea how to fix my problem. I imagine that the amount of calls that AOL receives that are related to dial-up connections is miniscule, so there’s no reason to continue training every member of support staff on how to troubleshoot this outdated technology.
Brad Jones/Digital Trends
Putting the fruitless phone call behind me, I attempted to set up a dial-up connection on a computer. Not my computer, because I knew that I needed to install AOL’s desktop client, and doing so on a computer than I rely on for work seemed tantamount to pouring acid into my eyes and hoping I’d still be able to see afterwards.
This is about the time that I realized the scope of what I was dealing with. Modern hardware makes internet setup close to a plug-and-play solution. Dial-up, a relic of the past, offers few modern conveniences.
Modem, Mo’ Problems
Naively, I thought there might be some way to use my current router as a means of forging a dial-up connection. Failing that, I was hopeful that I could scrounge up a PC old enough to contain an internal modem. That proved optimistic. After an unsuccessful test period, I was forced to admit I’d need to buy new hardware to make use of my new AOL subscription. A quick trip to Amazon.com yielded a range of low-cost modems that could connect to my PC via USB.
After an unsuccessful test period, I was forced to admit I’d need to buy new hardware to make use of my new AOL subscription.
Yet the confusion piled on. My first choice turned out to be an older model, and didn’t specify support for Windows 10. Likely, it would have worked just fine, but there was a chance that it might arrive, and prove to be unusable due to something as simple as a lack of updated drivers. I opted for an alternative that was confirmed to work with Windows 10.
Setting up the modem proved to be its own unique challenge. The device came with a free RJ11 cable, but to cut costs, it was only a few inches long. My computer, of course, wasn’t literally inches away from my nearest phone jack. In the end, I disconnected another telephone and used that cable, though it still wasn’t long enough, and I had to shift the computer tower closer to the telephone outlet. Which was rather annoying.
My struggles here were no fault of dial-up internet, or AOL. It was more a case of attempting to force a square peg into a round hole, like going to a furniture store in 2017 and expecting to find stands that will fit a tube TV from the 1950s. I was deliberately taking a step back into the past, so I could accept that things weren’t going to be as easy as they could be. But if the only way I could access the internet was via dial-up, I perhaps wouldn’t be so accommodating.
Access Denied
Having set up my hardware, and checked Device Manager to ensure that my modem was being recognized, I was sure that the physical components of my dial-up connection were in place. Now, it was time to wrestle with AOL Desktop.
Brad Jones/Digital Trends
As mentioned earlier, I had some apprehensions about this piece of software, so I chose not to install it on my primary computer. Knowing what I do now, I can safely say that the toll it took on me personally was much worse than anything it could have done to my PC.
My first stumbling block was the access number required to make a dial-up connection. Back in the days of 56K, service providers would supply users with a local telephone number that the modem would use to connect to the internet. The current version of AOL Desktop can source an access number automatically — but in my case, that didn’t work.
These numbers are listed online, so I keyed in my state and my nearest city to find one. But that number didn’t work, either. I tried a couple of different numbers that were local, just in case the one serving the small city I live in had been deactivated. No dice.
More: Think your internet is slow? It probably has something to do with where you live
I had no intention of calling support again, so I embarked upon an online chat with a customer care representative named Jack. I could be wrong, but based on his habit of starting every sentence with ‘could you please,’ and his complete reliance on AOL support documents in response to my questions, I’m fairly convinced that Jack was a bot.
Whether Jack was a bot, or simply an underpaid comp-sci grad working his way toward an IT administrator position, remains a mystery. Either way, the support documentation he sent me was of little help.
The first guide Jack sent me was a five-step guide to setting up a dial-up modem, which was apparently rewritten in October 2015, but still used images from February 2007. In theory, this would have been a great resource. In practice, the only information it offered that you couldn’t get from the AOL Desktop user interface was a method of choosing a generic modem profile — which turned out to be irrelevant, in the end.
The second guide Jack sent me was about troubleshooting a dial-up connection. This paranoid piece of documentation was largely concerned with other people, objects, and organizations that could be at fault; loose cables, telephone service providers, the user, and the phase of the moon (okay, we made that last one up). The most actionable advice on offer was to reboot the system and the modem, which I’d already done.
In fact, I’d read these two guides before ever speaking to Jack, because they comprise roughly half of the support content on the AOL website that’s related to dial-up connections. Confronted with this reality, Jack suggested that I call AOL’s support helpline, but I’d had enough.
Instead, I just kept trying to log on, as I had been doing at various points of the process. Sometimes I would make slight adjustments to settings that seemed relevant, like the access number I was using. Other times I wouldn’t change a thing. Eventually, it worked. Not off the back of some Eureka moment, just as the result of dogged persistence. Why? Honestly, I’m not sure.
I consider myself to be proficient with computers, and technology in general. Still, I hadn’t used dial-up in years, so I was constantly second-guessing myself while I was trying to make it work. When I was unable to connect, I assumed that I had done something wrong, and set about trying to fix the problem.
The whole experience reminded me of the temperamental internet that I used daily when I was younger. And getting online didn’t end my woes.
Waiting…
You can imagine my excitement when, after many attempts, I was finally given access to the promised land of dial-up internet. I was ready to run speed tests on the likes of Google, Facebook, and Digital Trends. Then everything ground to a halt.
Then and now: Login and front pages for AOL Dial-Up 2.0, left, and AOL Desktop 9.8.2.
AOL Desktop attempted to load a welcome screen, which caused the software to throw a major tantrum about a DNS error that spanned two separate windows. At this point, all I had done was click New Window, so I started to infer that this wasn’t going to be the most stable browsing experience.
Later, I would try and run a test on how long it took for this welcome screen to load. I stopped my timer at two minutes, with the task complete. However, clicking New Tab made the page load instantly, albeit with some images missing. As I wondered how to factor this into my testing, the software crashed, and I was forced to call upon Task Manager.
I persevered, and decided to load Google. It took around 30 seconds to load the search engine to a usable state, and around 45 seconds to load everything, including superficial components like the Google logo. It took a whopping one minute and 15 seconds for Google to carry out a search for ‘Digital Trends,’ and the results prompted a freeze that only Task Manager could fix.
Speed testing my dial-up connection seemed an exercise in futility. It’s like recording the time it takes a basketball to reach the net as I attempt half-court shots. Sure, I can record that information, but the number of shots that even hit the rim would be a more useful metric.
It took a whopping one minute and 15 seconds for Google to carry out a search for ‘Digital Trends.’
Constantly, my connection would drop without warning, seemingly at random. Even AOL’s browser seemed out to get me. I tried typing in “google.com” several times, and the address bar wouldn’t accept it. I incorrectly wrote “aol.colm” once, and my next three attempts to input text into the address bar were replaced by my misspelling.
I wrote a list of words in my notebook to describe my experience grappling with AOL dial-up — nagging, imprecise, fiddly, annoying, frustrating, inconsistent. However, more than anything, it felt familiar. I remembered my early internet usage. Connections failing at random, attempts to log on at certain times to see whether it worked better, confusion about whether I was doing something wrong, or whether the system was at fault.
A reminder of broadband’s importance
Today, accessing the internet is a straightforward process for a lot of people. Every stage of the process, from setting up your hardware, to making a connection, to surfing the web, has been streamlined.
My frustrating step back in time reminded me of how far we’ve come, and illustrated how important broadband is to everyday life. Imagine trying to apply for a job over dial-up. Or applying to renew your driver’s license. Or trying to view your bank account. These commonplace and arguably essentially tasks would prove almost impossible on an old-fashioned 56K modem.
It’s not just access to the Internet that matters. The speed of that access is important, too. Whether you’re reading this article on a broadband Wi-Fi connection, or via LTE on your phone, be thankful for the technology we have today. And if you’re reading this on a dial-up connection, well — my condolences.
AIVAnet 