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I was wondering if it is still possible to access any online BBS using dial up and an 80's era computer.
I'm aware that some dial up internet providers still exist (eg Nippy Internet in the UK), but will these work with an old Acorn Electron or Commodore 64, assuming I have the appropriate hardware (something like this Prism Modem? ), and such a BBS service still exists?
I think re-watching the War Games movie recently on TV in the UK awakened some dial-up nostalgia for me :)
There are many and you can always create your own.
The BBS Corner has a number of links to some that are running and links to software.
It is true that many old BBSs still (sort of) running are now accessible via the Internet, even if by Telnet. But there are die-hard devotees out there running boards that are accessed by dial-up.
There are still a lot of retro-BBS out there, accessible via dial-up or telnet (or both). telnetbbsguide has a list.
Typically they will work with retro computers (they are often made for that), but you will have to figure out either if you can connect up your retro computer to something (e.g. a RaspPi) somehow (e.g via serial) that can forward that connection via telnet, or you'll have to figure out how you'll connect a modem to your telephone system, so you can dial in (and pay money for that, unless you've a phone flatrate to the location of the BBS).
In Germany, Fritzboxes work great for that, as they normally have a TAE-socket where you can plug in the usual German modems. For your country, YMMV.
In the USA, analog landlines are going away in favor of Voice over IP (VOIP). But analog modems (and fax) don't work well over VOIP, depending on the voice codec.
You'll want to choose a non-compressing codec such as ITU G.711, or ITU V.150.1 (also know as V.MOIP), and configure that in your VOIP ATA, depending on what your VOIP provider supports. For fax, there's T.38.
If you can configure G.711 in your ATA, then you should be able to connect at 2400 baud, the speed of the C64's fastest modem.
