The Sega Saturn NetLink League

Does anyone know if you can hook the NetLink up via laptop or computer if it has the phone line jack ?

For multiplayer, you need an analog land line phone. It is possible to share with your laptop for internet browsing but I lost the link I had used to set that up. Can't use it that way for multiplayer though.

So I'm out of luck then if I don't have an analog land line then ?

I never really looked into using a digital line, but from what I've seen it may work but with severe lag or outright not work. Maybe someone with more experience can chime in. Personally, I do have an analog line and a secondary dial up service so I'm all set

I was look at where our fax machine and telephone are hooked up at but it all goes into the router for our internet

Your phone goes into your router? Unless you have Vonage I don't see why that would happen...

Yes you need a land line.

If your internet is ADSL, then it will work on the same line that the modem is connected. If it's cable internet, it doesn't, as the cable is totally digital and converted to internet or tv, or both.

If everything's plugging into your internet router, you likely are using digital phone service - which will work with the web browser as NekoCahlan said (assuming you find a dial-up ISP), but it's extremely unlikely that it will work for multiplayer NetLink gaming.

You cannot simply plug the NetLink into the modem port on your computer for two reasons: one, you'd need some kind of software on the computer to have it pretend to be a normal phone line and redirect that call over the internet... at which point your computer is essentially becoming a digital phone line. (This is sort of how using your computer as a dial-up ISP works.) Secondly, the NetLink games won't dial out unless they "hear" a dial tone (I'd have to check to be sure there's not a setting that can get around this. It's been a while, and I'm not at home to check.) There's definitely no way for the NetLink to pick up, as a modem isn't capable of producing a ring signal to let the Saturn know there's an incoming call.

I stumbled over this thread while researching about netlink.

Edit:
Ok scratch what i said. Netlink works in an other way then i thougt. The saturn modems "call" each other. The Eumex setup should only work with 2 saturn dirctly pluged in the eumex.

in theorie:
To use your laptop as a dail in server you should search for dreamcast pc-dc server.
Better use some external usb modem (they are pretty cheap).
For the dailtone part: Get somekind of isdn Telephonysystem. (German Telekom sold these under the name Eumex)
With an eumex box you can/could make internal calls. So plug Saturn and Laptop in the eumex and let the saturn call the laptop. The Laptop (properly setup) will pickup the call and and redirects the traffic to what ever internet you have.

I maybe missing something but in theory this should work.
Does xband need some central server or do xband user call each other direct??????

The XBAND requires a central server for matchmaking. There was no way to manually enter a number to dial. The server has been down for approaching two decades. On top of that, each game required a patch to make it multiplayer over a phone line - without those patches from the central server to modify the games' code, even if we could get two XBAND modems to connect to each other, the games wouldn't work.

The NetLink games contained the necessary code directly on the disc, so no additional patches were required.

So the Eumex setup will only allow browsing the web with the PlanetWeb browser, right?
Just like the pc-dc thing.

Not useful with the games, that need to call each other.

i use the eumex as line simulator.
Dreamcast <> Eumex <> Dail-in Server (PC-DC).

I dont own an Netlink-modem but i guess you could use it to connect two Saturn.
Both need to plugged into the same eumex and You would make an "internal call". It works a bit like a Lan-Party.

I have a modem connected to a raspberrypi. The NetLink and Pi are connected to a Teltone TLS3 line simulator for ease. With a line simulator, the Pi can answer the call automatically.