Old-school monthly internet charges

[Canaan-84]

Originally Posted by thecoalman

This presumably cable or DSL? I know I never paid more than $10 for dial up after about 96 or 97.

The $40 is for how much we pay today, back in 1997 it was far less than $20 and we alternated between AOL and Netzero years afterwards.

[mainebrokerman]

Originally Posted by Peregrine

I don't remember AOL limiting your time. It was a flat fee. And it was cheap.
Yea, I miss the old days.

when I signed on, it wasn't cheap-,it was a certain amount of minutes, then you would pay 1.00 per minute,,

this was the days of (the blue and red lines,,,slowly adding art and data)

when it went unlimited- what a great day that was!!

I think I still have an aol 2.0 diskette somewhere

[Merchant_ZZZ]

I have started off with using NetZero back in 1999 using a 56.6K modem. It was essentially fee for the most part. Then NetZero started limiting the amount of hours down. Then I have switched to AO Hell for a while. Then it was MSN dial up service, then I finally switched to Verizon DSL.

[cdnirene]

I think I paid about $6/month for dial-up when I went online in 1994. What I remember the most was all the busy signals. It was very frustrating dialing in over and over again. Sometimes it would take me 20 to 25 dial-ins before I got a connection.

I could count on no busy signals on Friday nights though. That puzzled me until I realized that I was habitually dialing in when X-Files, which I usually recorded on my VCR, was being televised... The typical internet user back then was a little different than today.

[OzzyRules]

I remember having trouble signing in to AOL every couple of years. I would call and speak to their help desk and they would tell me to make all of these complicated adjustments in the settings. That would only help for a little while. Finally I figured out the the internet was getting more and more complex, websites were using more and more resources every year, and so the average common user would need to keep upgrading their PC every couple of years as well. The more technically minded ones were probably doing it anyway, but most users were probably more like myself, or knew even less than myself.

Funny thing is, I would always get people asking me for help in finding them an "old used" computer. I would ask what they wanted it for and they would say "the internet." I had to laugh inside. It would never work because the main reason people were getting rid of their old pc's is because they were no longer keeping up with the internet's system growth.

[Canaan-84]

Originally Posted by cdnirene

I think I paid about $6/month for dial-up when I went online in 1994. What I remember the most was all the busy signals. It was very frustrating dialing in over and over again. Sometimes it would take me 20 to 25 dial-ins before I got a connection.

I could count on no busy signals on Friday nights though. That puzzled me until I realized that I was habitually dialing in when X-Files, which I usually recorded on my VCR, was being televised... The typical internet user back then was a little different than today.

Or they were out partying seeing how it was a weekend.

[old_cold]

Originally Posted by cdnirene

I think I paid about $6/month for dial-up when I went online in 1994. What I remember the most was all the busy signals. It was very frustrating dialing in over and over again. Sometimes it would take me 20 to 25 dial-ins before I got a connection.

I could count on no busy signals on Friday nights though. That puzzled me until I realized that I was habitually dialing in when X-Files, which I usually recorded on my VCR, was being televised... The typical internet user back then was a little different than today.

Oh god.....does that bring back memories! Bzzzzt,Bzzzzzt,Bzzzzzt.
Don't remember exactly when, but it got much better after some years and could almost always get on first try and at 48, which seemed pretty fast....LOL. I didn't know the difference!
For years, it was about $10 a month and unlimited. Don't recall when or why but the last few years it was $27, I think.

[Submariner]

Using FIDOs the expense was not the BBS' so much as the phone bill for placing the call.

[steel7]

I have unlimited dial up service (msntv) @ $21.95 a month (over 10 yrs now but to end soon forever).

[smartygurl]

I remember one time my AOL bill was $150.00.