Re:The sound of the dialup, pictured (2012)
by Arubis on Tuesday March 30, 2021 @09:29PM
(#26642553)
Having the speaker on was handy for figuring out if your outgoing call was picked up by an incompatible device, like your friend's mom.
If I understand correctly there was absolutely 0 need to make it noisy to your ear by default except for the tester at the factory to test if it worked.