6 ms·

1994 was way way after dialup Internet access was mainstream (both Yahoo and Amazon were founded that year). Any first access in the state would be sometime in

1994 was way way after dialup Internet access was mainstream (both Yahoo and Amazon were founded that year). Any first access in the state would be sometime in the 80s. By 1993 there were already national level dialup ISPs. > that was about as long [15 minutes] as it took to load one webpage with one image. Very hyperbolic. A simple webpage with text would load in seconds on a 28.8k modem. A single image would usually be a 10s of kB in those days, so maybe some seconds, not even a minute.

nine_k 3y ago
You assume 28.8, good phone lines, and a responsive server. Sometimes it was an old 9600 because it was all you could easily get, noisy lines, and the server on the other end being slow because the picture was popular. Then a page could load for a minute, with pictures and all. Not 15 minutes though.
doctor_eval 3y ago
Right, unless the backhaul was massively overcommitted... which was normal at the time because it was really difficult to sufficiently provision backhaul, even a few months in advance. The internet was certainly not fast in 1994. Anyway, since when does the truth need to get in the way of a good story?
dgacmu 3y ago
This is not correct for access open to the general public. The first commercial ISP in Utah, Xmission, was founded in 1993. Yes, many of us had internet access through the University of Utah before that (Pete Ashdown, the founder, had worked at Evans & Sutherland, which had quite good internet connectivity). But most people did not if they weren't associated with a university. (I helped create the third public ISP in Utah (ArosNet), in 1995). V34 (28.8k) was only ratified in 1994, and many ISPs were still at 14.4 at that time. Many customers still used much slower modems - 9600 remained quite common. The commercial Internet really only started taking off in 1993. Not by coincidence, that was the same year NCSA Mosaic was released.
- photonerd 3y ago
  Wow, Utah really lagged on getting an ISP, huh? From a UK perspective: my family got dual up in ‘94, there were lots of ISP options & it was basically impossible to buy anything slower than 28.8k new (at retail anyhow, I’m sure you could special order) as no-where stocked them. 28.8 took over fast. I think the UK had lots pf ISPs at the time because without a local number to call it was VERY expensive rather than just kinda expensive. But that’s just a guess.
  - dgacmu 3y ago
    Population density helps a lot with internet access. Distance to COs is smaller, easier to wire, shorter backhaul, etc. The salt lake city metro area had reasonable density but, particularly 30 years ago, it wasn't like .. most places in the UK or Europe.
  - supportlocal4h 3y ago
    Commercial ISP. People had dialup internet access before there were commercial ISPs.
    - photonerd 3y ago
      Yes, I’m aware. That’s what I was talking about
- jacquesm 3y ago
  I was still fighting local telcos in Canada in 2003 to get filters removed so I could go above 9600 baud.
  - YZF 3y ago
    I moved to Canada in 2002 and my 56k modem worked just fine and I'm pretty sure (though I might be misremembering) cable and ADSL were already around (I think people were amused that I was still using dialup). I'm sure some other parts were behind. I think I had Internet access around 1984 or so, lived near a university (this was not in the US so must have been some early international connection). Before that we had BITNET (IBM's network) and uucp. My first networking from home experience was with a 300bps modem to an IBM mainframe using a terminal program I wrote myself on a Sinclair ZX Spectrum. It was a pretty crappy half-duplex but pretty exciting as a kid. A trip down memory lane...
kevin_thibedeau 3y ago
Dialup services were available. Most had little to no internet connectivity. The few services dedicated to internet access were not mainstream yet. MS was preparing to deploy MSN 1.0 with no internet because that was just a hippie fad.
bluedino 3y ago
I would say dial up Internet was far from mainstream in 94, even with was widely available. I'd argue it wasn't until 96/97 when "everyone" started using it and membership didn't quite peak with services like AOL until 2001. The internet was still the land of the nerds until the early 2000's
- riceart 3y ago
  > The internet was still the land of the nerds until the early 2000's The first dot com boom, sort of the genesis of fortunes that make this site exist was prior to the early 2000s. The early 2000s was the bust period.
- icedchai 3y ago
  It's difficult to generalize. It definitely depends on your location, and especially population density. Before 1995, it was mostly nerds and early adopters. By 1995, in the north east US, dial up internet had definitely gone mainstream. Local ISPs had ads on the radio. A new one was popping up everyone couple of months. By late 1997, early '98, broadband services (@Home cable modems, DSL) were starting to roll out. The Netscape IPO, in summer 1995, and also the release of Windows 95, really marks the "mainstream" period. Getting online with Trumpet Winsock and Windows 3.1 was a PITA.
xedrac 3y ago
I remember having dialup in 1994 through xmission. It was the same year my dad installed Slackware on our basement computer.

nine_k 3y ago

You assume 28.8, good phone lines, and a responsive server. Sometimes it was an old 9600 because it was all you could easily get, noisy lines, and the server on the other end being slow because the picture was popular. Then a page could load for a minute, with pictures and all. Not 15 minutes though.

doctor_eval 3y ago

Right, unless the backhaul was massively overcommitted... which was normal at the time because it was really difficult to sufficiently provision backhaul, even a few months in advance. The internet was certainly not fast in 1994. Anyway, since when does the truth need to get in the way of a good story?

dgacmu 3y ago

This is not correct for access open to the general public. The first commercial ISP in Utah, Xmission, was founded in 1993. Yes, many of us had internet access through the University of Utah before that (Pete Ashdown, the founder, had worked at Evans & Sutherland, which had quite good internet connectivity). But most people did not if they weren't associated with a university. (I helped create the third public ISP in Utah (ArosNet), in 1995). V34 (28.8k) was only ratified in 1994, and many ISPs were still at 14.4 at that time. Many customers still used much slower modems - 9600 remained quite common. The commercial Internet really only started taking off in 1993. Not by coincidence, that was the same year NCSA Mosaic was released.

photonerd 3y ago
Wow, Utah really lagged on getting an ISP, huh? From a UK perspective: my family got dual up in ‘94, there were lots of ISP options & it was basically impossible to buy anything slower than 28.8k new (at retail anyhow, I’m sure you could special order) as no-where stocked them. 28.8 took over fast. I think the UK had lots pf ISPs at the time because without a local number to call it was VERY expensive rather than just kinda expensive. But that’s just a guess.
- dgacmu 3y ago
  Population density helps a lot with internet access. Distance to COs is smaller, easier to wire, shorter backhaul, etc. The salt lake city metro area had reasonable density but, particularly 30 years ago, it wasn't like .. most places in the UK or Europe.
- supportlocal4h 3y ago
  Commercial ISP. People had dialup internet access before there were commercial ISPs.
  - photonerd 3y ago
    Yes, I’m aware. That’s what I was talking about
jacquesm 3y ago
I was still fighting local telcos in Canada in 2003 to get filters removed so I could go above 9600 baud.
- YZF 3y ago
  I moved to Canada in 2002 and my 56k modem worked just fine and I'm pretty sure (though I might be misremembering) cable and ADSL were already around (I think people were amused that I was still using dialup). I'm sure some other parts were behind. I think I had Internet access around 1984 or so, lived near a university (this was not in the US so must have been some early international connection). Before that we had BITNET (IBM's network) and uucp. My first networking from home experience was with a 300bps modem to an IBM mainframe using a terminal program I wrote myself on a Sinclair ZX Spectrum. It was a pretty crappy half-duplex but pretty exciting as a kid. A trip down memory lane...

kevin_thibedeau 3y ago

Dialup services were available. Most had little to no internet connectivity. The few services dedicated to internet access were not mainstream yet. MS was preparing to deploy MSN 1.0 with no internet because that was just a hippie fad.

bluedino 3y ago

I would say dial up Internet was far from mainstream in 94, even with was widely available. I'd argue it wasn't until 96/97 when "everyone" started using it and membership didn't quite peak with services like AOL until 2001. The internet was still the land of the nerds until the early 2000's

riceart 3y ago
> The internet was still the land of the nerds until the early 2000's The first dot com boom, sort of the genesis of fortunes that make this site exist was prior to the early 2000s. The early 2000s was the bust period.
icedchai 3y ago
It's difficult to generalize. It definitely depends on your location, and especially population density. Before 1995, it was mostly nerds and early adopters. By 1995, in the north east US, dial up internet had definitely gone mainstream. Local ISPs had ads on the radio. A new one was popping up everyone couple of months. By late 1997, early '98, broadband services (@Home cable modems, DSL) were starting to roll out. The Netscape IPO, in summer 1995, and also the release of Windows 95, really marks the "mainstream" period. Getting online with Trumpet Winsock and Windows 3.1 was a PITA.

xedrac 3y ago

I remember having dialup in 1994 through xmission. It was the same year my dad installed Slackware on our basement computer.