in the days before FTTH, DSL and LTE/5G we used dedicated modems with Dsub25 ports for dialup. Before the upcoming of NAS-routers like the Ascend MAX series, which were our first all-in-one (analog and ISDN) dialup solution, we had stacks of Elsa modem like the TLV.34. Of course they already didn't use any other signals than a common 9 pin DSub offered, but physically attached they were over bulky 25pin cables.
the fully wired 25pin Dsub cables were quite multi use; either for EIA232, parallel port like the interconnect to a zip drive, or old fashioned SCSI-2 for scanners or SCSI zip drives; to my memory the JAZ drives already used 50pin interconnects like they were used for HSSI as well
yea, the good old times; not that I wish me back the speeds of those days, but the web was at least still free of Google, FB and all those other creepy business makers; I miss these nerdy days of the internet