Nov '99.

Gateway PC 

on and off since 1998 , 56k was sloooooooow

Late 1996 via Internet room at local leisure centre, then seriously since university in 1997.

Lol - still only 56Kb/s now!

Probably '98 or '99 I guess. I think I remember having 56k access just before GCSE's.

Quote from: Eagle on March 27, 2011, 20:42:39 PM
Lol - still only 56Kb/s now!

your joking right ?

Unfortunately, no.

[Oops, meant 56KB/s] ... which is 'better'... but it doesn't feel like it is...

I dont remember when it was, possibly 99 also but i remember a mate worked at Gateway and we were using free internet cd's from all over the place for ages.

I have no idea.... must have been about 97/98 ?

I remember when I bought a 56k modem and it was faster than my old one !

Late 90s I think, diamond supraexpress 56k, was using freenetname I think it was, they offered 0800 dialup, would take sometimes 30/40 times to connect, rarely even more !

I remember when I started working I was using NTLs dialup and cranked a £100 internet phonebill   

Flipped between that and calling my mate up the roads house on diamond cable (then NTL, then Virgin Media) as it was free, we had 2 machines at mine, used to dial up his and play 3 player quake

Blimey, most of you starting out on 56k! My first experience was on 33.6k! 56 wasn't even available!

But my dad was on many years before then, on a text based version, on a dedicated all in one monitor with fold down keyboard (I think it was 9.6k) I guess these were more usenet type things?

I have no idea what it was really, I'm not even sure my dad did TBH, I can't think of any reason he would need it!, but I think the box is still working and sitting around somewhere at my parents!

Edit:

Infact this was the service.. So must have been around the late 80s! Unfortunately can't find a pic of the terminal!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prestel

97 IIRC and it was bloody expensive 

I started at home about a month after BT were forced to provide 1p per minute access to other companies, not sure exactly when that was, 1998?

And to outdo egg I started on a teletypewriter machine in 77 that had to phone up a computer in Newcastle just to get access to processing capability. It managed about 60 baud, iirc. Bits per second, rather less as there were overheads too.

Were there 28.8k modems too? I remember we upgraded from something like that to 56k and me thinking it was the dogs nads.

I used to go on some bulletin boards back in the day 9600 baud modem, but most only supported 2400!
Internet wise im probably looking at about 1993 or 94 on a 14.4k modem. Upgraded to a USRobotics x2 about 18months later.
It was a 28k initially, but guaranteed to upgrade to 36.6k when available a well as 56k - which there was 2 different standards fighting for dominance.
Had broadband (cable) as soon as it was available in my area.. Im guessing that was about 1998 or 1999 - you had to buy the modem at a cost of £250!