When did you first get an internet connection at home?

[Falcon Freak]

This does not include internet connections which were supplied and/or paid by the company you work for. I am curious to see how quickly the internet 'revolution' spread. Honest answers please.

FF

[Casper]

I think it was 1996 when a BBS I was on became an internet provider.
Ahh, they were the days. I didnt even have a 56K modem at the time.

[LUXO_8]

bout 96 / 97.
parents had it put on for me for school... i felt so special

[M14A-Mclaren]

Was around 96 or 97, and my dad would bring home his 28k modem from work and we'd plug it into our Macintosh Performa and could search the net on that.

[paul7v7]

1995...28k modem not much around in those days hehe

[Fairlane]

1999 (56K)- Guess that doesnt made that much of a Hard Core Geek.

Was using net at council library in 1995 on Apples with Netscape.

Friend of mine got internet in 1994, which was pretty damn hardcore at the time on his blistering fast Pentium 75Mhz (I felt Povo cause I was using a 386).

[loxxr6]

Yeah I remember back to 8088 days and when like 4 or 20meg hard drives were the sh*t.

First modem I had only hit 2400 speed I think. Then we went real fancy with a 9600 lol.

First major site I ever accessed were old warez BBS. Oldschool.

[NAK302]

i had a social life up until the year 2k :
before computers you actually went to barbies and events to hang $hit on people. now i just come here :

[Tornado]

I have never paid for an internet connection, but I have had one for over 11 years :o)

[Simmo]

dialup from 98-04. finally got cable in feb 04.

[LuvinmyEB]

Originally Posted by Casper

I think it was 1996 when a BBS I was on became an internet provider.
Ahh, they were the days. I didnt even have a 56K modem at the time.

I think it was 96 could have been 95.

The good old BBS days and the 14.4kbps modems, I don't think there was a BBS I wasn't leeching files off or playing games on.

There's still Downunder BBS that I just joined so I can play BRE (Baron Realms Elite). I'm not a geek I swear. :nutsycuck

I'll just sit back and wait for someone to ask what a BBS is now. :

[Paris Hilton]

'98...I was a late starter :P

[parawolf]

I've had internet since about 1993 - perhaps earlier, depends on your classification of an internet connection and what the internet was back then.

I was on BBS's from about '91 which had Newsgroup access from home, does that count? In '93 one of the BBS's that I frequented the most, became an APANA access provider.

[parawolf]

Originally Posted by LuvinmyEB

There's still Downunder BBS that I just joined so I can play BRE (Baron Realms Elite). I'm not a geek I swear. :nutsycuck

I'll just sit back and wait for someone to ask what a BBS is now. :

MAN BRE!!

I loved that game!

[Damo]

98' Parents bought us a Pentuim something arather, upgrade from the 386, cause myself my brother and my sister were all in highschool and only the poor kids didn't have the net. :

[LuvinmyEB]

Slightly off topic, what where peoples BBS usernames and which ones did you frequent?

Mine was Starr.

BBS's I used:
1647 (I was the leader of the good league of BRE and we won the worldwide comp!!) I rule!! :P
Hired Goons
Dark Crystal
Little Shop of Horrors
Point Blank
Flashflood
Can't remember the names of the rest of them, I deleted Telix, Telemate and Zoc a long time ago.

[Rodp]

1987 :(

Back in the good old days when there wasn't spam galore, you dialled into a unix box and gophered everywhere, irc was one network and before the boom of everyone putting up an internet site about pointless things that no-one else cares about.

Only downside was there was no porn. :p

[mik]

cant remember what year, 1200 baud modem anyone

[dogbreath_48]

I don't remember.
i DO remember which of my mates first got it, and i DO remember what we looked up, and i DO remember the ALT-TAB page was about sand...

-Stu

[dogbreath_48]

Originally Posted by Rodp

1987 :(

Back in the good old days when there wasn't spam galore, you dialled into a unix box and gophered everywhere, irc was one network and before the boom of everyone putting up an internet site about pointless things that no-one else cares about.

Only downside was there was no porn. :p

seriously, what was there back then? Did any company's advertise on it like they do now!?

-Stu

P.S. I'll do it; what's BBS?

[Yaw]

A friend of my has my old bankisa 14k modem and still uses it to connect. Takes forever.

[big_pete]

geez i was a late starter, i didnt get it till about '99- 2000,
didnt even have a computer till about '97!

[lukey]

I remember my 14.4 connection and going to school and talking about the internet and people saying 'what's that?'

[The MaDDeSTMaN]

Originally Posted by dogbreath_48

P.S. I'll do it; what's BBS?

You are joking aren't you? Next thing you'll be asking abut 8 tracks, LPs, BETA video and audio cassettes? :hihi:

[dogbreath_48]

Originally Posted by The MaDDeSTMaN

You are joking aren't you? Next thing you'll be asking abut 8 tracks, LPs, BETA video and audio cassettes? :hihi:

what can i say - i'm a child of the digital revolution :P

[The MaDDeSTMaN]

Originally Posted by dogbreath_48

what can i say - i'm a child of the digital revolution :P

LOL and at 27, I'm already an old fart! :hihi:

BBS was Bulletin Board System, which was generally a text (well, ASCII + ANSI) interface to another computer system which you connected to. There were often online games you could play, file areas you could download from and upload to, chat rooms, and it was all usually ran by a SYSOP, who was in charge of the whole thing.

I still remember dialling into 1647 on my 2400 baud modem and leeching files while the more socially minded people chatted in the chat rooms, LOL!

[Falcon Freak]

Originally Posted by parawolf

I've had internet since about 1993 - perhaps earlier, depends on your classification of an internet connection and what the internet was back then.

I was on BBS's from about '91 which had Newsgroup access from home, does that count? In '93 one of the BBS's that I frequented the most, became an APANA access provider.

I classify 1994 as the start of the internet revolution when Netscape released a browser which made the internet accessible for the "non computer geeks".

My first exposure to the internet was in 1995 when a friend of mine had it at his work. He only had a 14.4k modem and there wasn't that much out there. But porn was already in plentiful supply (mostly pictures).

After that I talked about getting a home internet connection for 2 years before I managed to reach the wallet at the bottom of my pocket. Otherwise I would have connected a year earlier than I did.

But in hindsight I didn't miss that much as the net was still in it's infancy, most websites were very basic and they didn't get updated that often. But things were not so regulated either. I remember finding a 100 plus page document which explained in precise details how to make all sorts of explosives - all the way up to nitro glycerine! Dangerous poo. Plus I believe there wasn't as much spying on users back then as there is now.

It is amazing how far it has come in the last decade. Try to imagine going a week without connecting to the net. Impossible for me as I connect more than once a day.

FF

[LuvinmyEB]

Originally Posted by The MaDDeSTMaN

LOL and at 27, I'm already an old fart! :hihi:
I still remember dialling into 1647 on my 2400 baud modem and leeching files while the more socially minded people chatted in the chat rooms, LOL!

Yeah and I remember the Sysop booting you for being such a rude bugger and not coming into chat with the rest of us. :hihi:

[LUXO_8]

Originally Posted by Falcon Freak

.

It is amazing how far it has come in the last decade. Try to imagine going a week without connecting to the net. Impossible for me as I connect more than once a day.

FF

yup.....
i seem to live on the forums.... i have no social life

[Paxton]

My Father's work required us to have the Internet at home from 1993. It was one of those things that in the beginning was not the best, but I was 17 at the time, so I was not really addicted to it the way my Brother became. For the record, my Dad's job was not in IT, he is a Radiologist, and was doing reporting from home. He still does that today.

-Andrew