Category:Bulletin Board System

Before the internet people would use communication software, a serial interface connected to a modem and this was connected to the telephone line. When connected to the BBS you could send messages to other users using the system. If the BBS was a member of Fidonet you could send messages to other BBS systems in the Fidonet network.

Bulletin Board Systems were other computers, running BBS software, connected to a modem and a telephone line often at somebody else's house.

The connection speed was low, often around 300-1200 baud.

A limited number of people could connect to the BBS at one time and your telephone line and the BBS telephone line was busy while you were connected.

If your telephone was lifted to make a call and a connection was established it would then become broken. You couldn't connect to a BBS and make calls. Connections used normal telephone call rates so when you connected to a BBS you often paid connection fees and a per minute rate. So using BBSes could be expensive.