When did you first start on the internet?

[deep]

I took my first computer class back in 1980 - we had a keyboard, lineprinter and modem and would tie into the local university computer. We learned BASIC programming and I started an enormous program that would play a rudimentary game of chess.

I started working on the internet during the early days of AOL - back in 1994 or so.

I pre date you a bit. lol

In the mid 70s if you wanted to work with computers you took a Data Processing class. It involved creating data entry cards that had to be kept in proper order and fed into a machine for the processing of simple programs.

In the 80s I used a dial up modem to get work-related information, it was not the Internet.

At about 1993 I bought a desktop comp, it had a 14.4 dial up. The Internet providers were Prodigy and CompuServe I think. Rush Limbaugh was always plugging CompuServe. I think I got CompuServe for a bit, then switched to the new AOL for about a week (it sucked back then, too) and then switched to a local provider call deltanet. In the early days there were not a lot of graphics. I remember waiting several minutes, sometimes 6, 7 or longer staring at a blank screen as a picture slowly materialized and thinking how cool it was.

 

[Giant Lemon]

I first used the internet in 1995, but I didn't really start using it until my family got access in the spring of 1997.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

i first went on the internet in 1995 i believe. i may have gone on earlier but if i did, i don't remember.

i did it where my parents worked. it was a T1 connection, kinda rare back then i think. stuff still took forever to load though, since computers had like 64k ram back then if you were lucky (my dad probably did since he was a techy guy). i remember waiting like a minute for a picture to load (even back then, people were stupid enough to make image-heavy pages and use HUGE pictures).

in fact, i even remember reading/hearing about discotheque being leaked on the internet from this very website! i couldn't listen to it though. the computer had no speakers.

i first got the net at home in 1997. we had a 56k modem, still pretty fast for back then since most people then were still on like 38.8 or something. in late 98 i switched to cable (as soon as road runner came to town) and never looked back.

 

[Bono's shades]

The first time I ever tried the Internet was the fall of 1998 when I took a class that taught you the basics. I bought my home computer in the spring of 1999, and I've been spent a frightening number of hours online ever since.

 

[u2er]

about 5 or 6 years ago..

 

[zonelistener]

My dad worked for an online legal tax information service when I was in H.S. in the late 80's. He had one of the first Compaq "mobile" computers for work, and it would connect through a modem. It was the size of today's hard drives.

We also had a Mac (that I still have, but do not use) that we got in 1987. We connected with the Prodigy serivce....and I remember posting about U2 back then. I even met a ton of people from that serivce,many that I still talk to today (MVD_75 even met one when I was in Atlanta).

In college (91-95) i remember connecting to the Internet before web browsers. It was boring.

 

[DiGi]

I took my first computer class back in 1980 - we had a keyboard, lineprinter and modem and would tie into the local university computer. We learned BASIC programming and I started an enormous program that would play a rudimentary game of chess.

I started working on the internet during the early days of AOL - back in 1994 or so.

did you work at AOL?

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

my intro was in Sept 1993. it was apart of my freshmen intro to college course. we had to get an email acct and i soon found the wonders of ISCA BBS from the University of Iowa. ah memories. lol i met many people from that bbs including a few boyfriends.

 

[senrab]

Interesting thread.

I think the first time I ever heard of the internet was on a trip to DC back in Aug. of 1994 (I was 12) and reading the day's headlines on the Smithsonian computers that Michael Jackson had just secretly married Lisa Marie Presley.

I used it more in high school and the library from '96-on, but didn't get the net or a computer in my home until fall of 2000. My parents said if I wanted a computer, I would have to buy it myself, so I did.

 

[nbcrusader]

did you work at AOL?

No. Like others, I used AOL as my first ISP. I lasted less than a year with them.

 

[arw]

1995 was my first time ever using it. that was at a friends house. I didn't actually get it myself until 1997 and I haven't moved from my computer since then.

 

[theSoulfulMofo]

1993 ... on my friends computer... and didn't start on that AOL 5#!+

Before Internet was even regulated.

 

[brettig]

School in around 1997 I believe, didn't get it at home till 99.

 

[FizzingWhizzbees]

Isn't it weird to think just ten years ago most of us had never used the internet...and yet now it's such a big part of many people's jobs and lives.

Time flies.

 

[dizzy]

Probably around 1997, but our monitor sucked and it was in black and white. My sister's boyfriend was still trying to fix it. I ended up playing golf on the PC instead.

 

[DiGi]

I guess I started about 95 or 96. but became a junkie around 98.