Who was your first ISP?

[GagHalfrunt]

I ran through AOL, Compuserve and Prodigy in a continuous cycle for about 18-20 months, it's amazing how long people could play that free trial game. Every month cancel and move to a different service. The first one I would have paid for was a local ISP called Localnet. I signed up and got the service, but they never billed me. I think I had them for 2 years free before they went bankrupt. Apparently not billing your customers isn't a successful business plan. The first ISP I really paid for was SNET. That lasted all of a month, they sucked so bad I jumped ship immediately.

 

[SlitheryDee]

AOL. It was awful.

 

[Cienja]

AOL then SISNA, now QWEST / MSN <groan>

 

[cjvon]

I can't remember the name but it was 14.4. They said you had to pay extra for graphics? I didn't understand why but I paid for their deluxe package. They sucked so I went for AOL (what an improvement). I think it was 1995.

My wife had access in 1989 thru a local university, all text. She was 14 at the time.

Edit: Thanks abracadabra1 I'm pretty sure my first was IDT.

Any remember UUNET?

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: Deeko
1. AOL - I was about 10, didn't have a lot of choice
2. NetZero/A couple of other lesser known Free ISPs - despite being free, they were still better than AOL (which my parents refused to give up). had to deal with ad bars though.
3. SegaNet - got it for the dreamcast, but used it on my PC instead of AOL (which my parents STILL refused to give up, even though I was paying for another ISP). It kicked ass, I got near DSL-like pings with it.
4. Earthlink - after Dreamcast bombed, they sold their ISP subscriptions to Earthlink
5. Drexel ResNet
6. Hotwire DSL - local carrier in my building, sucked, soon replaced
7. Verizon DSL - got rid of Hotwire, no other options in building
8. Road Runner cable - new apartment
9. Comcast cable - bought Time Warner/Road Runner in my area
10. Verizon DSL - new apartment/town, wanted to ditch comcast completely
11. Comcast cable - couldn't get DirecTV for TV and the verizon dsl service was spotty/slow

so hotwire sucked, eh? I remember people saying the company did bonding or some crazy BS that got them lsome crazy speeds

 

[macwinlin]

1. My university provided dial-up service to the internet, so I used that for 2 years before I moved.
2. BlueLight which was free, but I had to deal with the extra software and ads.
3. Netzero
4. Garbersoft

Currently have AT&T (SBC) DSL.

 

[TallBill]

Netzero

 

[GTaudiophile]

A local Atlanta BBS called Peachnet.

Followed by...

CompuServe
AOL (briefly)
Mindspring/Earthlink
GA Tech ResNet
Comcast
Verizon (Now)

 

[FlashG]

AOL > BellSouth > at&t (SBC)

 

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by: Modelworks
First isp/service I ever paid for was Genie, run by GE.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GEnie

The initial price for connection, at both 300 bits per second and the then-high-speed 1200 bits per second, was $5-$6 per hour during "non-prime-time" hours (evenings and weekends) and $36 an hour (to discourage daytime use)

I had forgotten how expensive it was.

i once ran a $300 bill playing some lame text space wars game on my dad's tandy "notebook" on that service. i had to work some extra hours to pay him back

 

[mjquilly]

Originally posted by: Drako
NETCOM, way back in 1989.

NETCOM as well, then prodigy

 

[imported_nightfox]

aol -> juno -> roadrunner

 

[GregGreen]

eWorld (Apple's attempt to be AOL)(1994-1995)
AOL(1995-1997)
Chautauqua and Erie Telephone (local)(1997-2001)
Alltel DSL!!(name changed to Windstream recently)(2001-2007)
Road Runner(2007-current)

All dates are approximate

 

[nycxandy]

AOL

 

[Deeko]

Originally posted by: Goosemaster
so hotwire sucked, eh? I remember people saying the company did bonding or some crazy BS that got them lsome crazy speeds

Oh man Hotwire was awful. They had an option of having multiple lines - so we had two, one for each bedroom...averaged 56k-ish speeds on each line. Switching to one Verizon line was still about 10x faster, even though twice as many people were using it.

 

[Ika]

The first one I remember using was a dial-up connection my mom got for free from Cleveland State University (or so far as I knew). After that, I used AOL for a few months, then we switched to cable internet from Adelphia (which was later bought by Time Warner).

 

[Juno]

at&t worldnet
aol
earthlink (was given the @mindspring.com address)
RIT resnet (oc3)
time warner roadrunner

 

[olds]

aol

 

[walrus]

Internet Frontier I thought I was smoking when I was downloading at 16 kbps A very long time ago.

 

[BehindEnemyLines]

NetZero > NoCharge.com > Comcast

Nocharge.com is still the best free (and no advertising) dial-up ISP available for Seattle.

 

[Quiksilver]

Originally posted by: oldsmoboat
aol

same.

 

[Eli]

Shit, no.. I was wrong.

My first ISP was a local ISP called Pacifier Online Data Service.

Then Aracnet.

Then Aracnet + Verizon DSL.

Then Cable(Attbi at the com).

 

[AbAbber2k]

Originally posted by: loup garou
Prodigy

 

[CellarDoor]

Originally posted by: loup garou
Prodigy

 

[thecoolnessrune]

SurfSouth 28.8kbps for $21.95.
Earthlink 56kbps (linked at 33 max due to old lines) when they bought SurfSouth. Still at $21.95
Direcway 768/56 at $59.99
Bellsouth DSL 1.5/256 for $34.99
AT&T DSL (when they bought Bellsouth) 1.5/256 still $34.99.