---
title: "dialup ghost towns and amazon ec2"
date: 2006-08-31T23:37:54-04:00
url: https://blog.lmorchard.com/2006/08/31/dialup-ghost-towns-and-amazon-ec2/
author: Les Orchard
tags: [asides, amazon, ec2, bbs, retro, oldschool, dialup]
---

# dialup ghost towns and amazon ec2

<blockquote cite="http://www.vintagecomputing.com/index.php/archives/161">Most BBS enthusiasts know that the last outpost for BBSes has been, for some time now, through telnet on the Internet. There was a time, however, when when dial-up BBSes over analog phone lines were the rule, not the exception.</blockquote><div class="quotesource">Source: <a href="http://www.vintagecomputing.com/index.php/archives/161">VintageComputing.com | Vintage Computing and Gaming » Blog Archive » The Dial-Up BBS Revisited</a></div>
Reading this article, and having [tinkered with Synchronet][sn], an idea occurs to me:  I'll use [Amazon EC2][ec] to host a running instance of [Synchronet][s] available via telnet - _but only from like 9:00 PM until 5:00 AM_.  I'll save hourly hosting charges and not tie up my parents' phone line all day!  Hmm, I wonder:  Has anyone tried setting up an auto answer modem under VoIP?

[s]: http://synchro.net
[sn]: http://decafbad.com/blog/2004/12/16/synchronet
[ec]: http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html?node=201590011

<div id="comments" class="comments archived-comments">
            <h3>Archived Comments</h3>
            
        <ul class="comments">
            
        <li class="comment" id="comment-221086509">
            <div class="meta">
                <div class="author">
                    <a class="avatar image" rel="nofollow" 
                       href="http://kasei.us/"><img src="http://www.gravatar.com/avatar.php?gravatar_id=2046c65bf9c72c16b22df76a22aba0ef&amp;size=32&amp;default=http://mediacdn.disqus.com/1320279820/images/noavatar32.png"/></a>
                    <a class="avatar name" rel="nofollow" 
                       href="http://kasei.us/">Gregory Williams</a>
                </div>
                <a href="#comment-221086509" class="permalink"><time datetime="2006-09-01T19:25:46">2006-09-01T19:25:46</time></a>
            </div>
            <div class="content"><p>What a great idea! History has turned the frustration of only being able to run by board at night (before I got a dedicated line) into a nice feeling of nostalgia, and being able to re-live that through a crazy combination of VoIP and Amazon virtualized hosting would be awesome.</p></div>
            
        </li>
    
        <li class="comment" id="comment-221086510">
            <div class="meta">
                <div class="author">
                    <a class="avatar image" rel="nofollow" 
                       href=""><img src="http://www.gravatar.com/avatar.php?gravatar_id=ccc68c08441d8a841a427e5a9aa9740b&amp;size=32&amp;default=http://mediacdn.disqus.com/1320279820/images/noavatar32.png"/></a>
                    <a class="avatar name" rel="nofollow" 
                       href="">Jason Cook</a>
                </div>
                <a href="#comment-221086510" class="permalink"><time datetime="2006-09-01T22:48:42">2006-09-01T22:48:42</time></a>
            </div>
            <div class="content"><p>The problem is that VOIP and modems really don't get along well at all.</p></div>
            
        </li>
    
        <li class="comment" id="comment-221086511">
            <div class="meta">
                <div class="author">
                    <a class="avatar image" rel="nofollow" 
                       href=""><img src="http://www.gravatar.com/avatar.php?gravatar_id=ecff5a3cee4fad6c1a442aa97c88e57b&amp;size=32&amp;default=http://mediacdn.disqus.com/1320279820/images/noavatar32.png"/></a>
                    <a class="avatar name" rel="nofollow" 
                       href="">Ben West</a>
                </div>
                <a href="#comment-221086511" class="permalink"><time datetime="2006-09-04T22:25:43">2006-09-04T22:25:43</time></a>
            </div>
            <div class="content"><p>It's very hard to tunnel a modem through VoIP.</p></div>
            
        </li>
    
        </ul>
    
        </div>