Internet Nostalgia

Klarinette

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May 21, 2009
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Do you remember when you first "got the internet" at your house? How old were you? What type of connection was it? Do you still have the original connection, or have you moved on? What did you spend most of your time doing while online?

In the mid 90s when my friends first started getting computers and modems at their houses, the main provider of the day was AOL, as I recall. Dial-up. No one seemed to like AOL messenger, so we all used ICQ. It was a huge deal when one of my friends got their first cable modem, as his computer was always connected, and there were no problems with bitchy sisters picking up the phone and killing the signal.

By the time my parents bothered with the internet, it was well after 2000 (which was weird, seeing as my father had taken some computer courses up at the college about seven years before that, and insisted on getting with the times), and we went straight for broadband. We'd had a computer for many years before that, but it was only ever used for things like playing Paper Boy, and one of the first versions of Word Perfect just for the sake of typing (good old 386 and Windows 3.1). We got a new computer before ever getting a modem. Hm... I remember wasting a lot of time on Paint, as well. Once we got the modem, I spent the bulk of my time in chat rooms (so lame... I hate chat rooms) and on a primitive version of Windows Messenger (and I can still remember the day the emoticons started to move).

Four years ago, along came Biff Slow Toboggan (the name my family has given my laptop) and the wireless router, and here I am.

How about you, Escapists?
 

NeoAC

Zombie Nation #LetsRise
Jun 9, 2008
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I had to wait until 2000 when we got dialup. My house finally upgraded to satellite internet in 2008, but it is almost as bad since it doesn't work half the time. Thank god I'm at university where I have wireless included in my lease.
 

Soundish

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Feb 17, 2010
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When it comes to internet nostalgia one thing instantly springs to mind for me, the fact that pretty much every webpage was full of blue links. And also how you couldn't use the phone whilst online, dial up was pretty inconvenient really.
 

Raikov

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Mar 1, 2010
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Got my first dial-up at -99 I think. It was the only form of connection we could get out here in the countryside. It was extremely expensive to be online before 1800 in the day online, and the speed was abysmal. It was an integrated 56K modem, but we had several, since even the slightest powersurge would kill them. Then I moved away from home in 2006, and got 24MB ADSL. After I lost my job in that town two years later, I moved home again and my parents still had 56K...

Now, I pay for our connection, and have a stable 8MB. I still have their last modem lying on my couch though, I'm not sure what to do with it, I was thinking about putting it in a frame and hang it on my wall. =P

I remember browsing the net... there were very few pages that had flash animations or big pictures, because it would take forever to open them.^^

Oh, and I had a few programs that boosted the modem's speed, so I could download files at a massive 11 KB/s! And yes, I actually played online games with it. Porn was really out of the question, because even pictures could take 10 minutes to load...
 

Klarinette

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May 21, 2009
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Ooh! I just remembered something.
So, I think I was maybe 9 when a free trial AOL disc came in the mail. I asked Dad about it and whether or not we could put it on the computer. He said it didn't matter because we needed a modem. I don't know or care what that meant, so I promptly went down to the computer, installed AOL and opened 'er up. I was scared, for some reason. I'd never been on the internet before. Needless to say, the connection didn't happen. I was disappointed, but relieved. I uninstalled AOL, hoping I wouldn't be caught.
 

DazZ.

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Jun 4, 2009
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I remember this, and humming along to it every time it came up. I loved the way it was slightly different for each house as well.

I completed Ghost Recon (The original FPS one where you couldn't even see you holding your gun, also the best one). Then I wanted more so I downloaded a huge campaign mod which took me about 8 hours over an afternoon (400mb? I think), also my mother wasn't allowed to use the phone all night until I had my expansion.

I remember playing Quake 3 and having insane amounts of lag all the time.

I don't miss it.
 

Rednog

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Nov 3, 2008
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I got my first PC, a Gateway 750Mhz (absolute garbage, problems every other month) back in late 1999/2000. We used dial up, the service we used was a free internet company run by K-Mart called Blue Light. It eventually starting charging for service and eventually shut down. By then we moved onto our phone company's DSL after we badgered them for months to install any form of broadband in our area. It ended up being completely terrible, it would always be dead and just lagged a ton. After we called them a couple of times to complain one operator eventually admitted that they capped people a lot lower than their advertised speeds and we would have to pay more for more speed. So we then moved onto Comcast, not the greatest, but fairly reliable and I'm pretty sure the only good connection in Chicago.

I spent most of my time on my early computer surfing chat rooms, I first hung out on the FoxTrot chat rooms, but learned a hard lesson about the cost of dial up and sitting in a chat room for like 2 hours. Then I moved onto MSN chat rooms, but when they got upgraded/changed I gave up. It was a long time before I got a new PC and spent a lot of time at LAN centers playing CounterStrike and Starcraft.

Yea I really don't miss the old days of the internet/PCs
 

ma55ter_fett

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Oct 6, 2009
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got internet in our house (for kiddie use) in 2008... no joke before that only dad had internet and that was dial up.
 

Optimus Hagrid

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Feb 14, 2009
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Can we talk about nostalgic websites?

Jesus Christ I can't believe I used to read Bob and George. That was a pile of shite. At least it got me slightly interested in Mega Man.
 

xDHxD148L0

The Dissapointed Gamer
Apr 16, 2009
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In the late 90s, I remember getting mad at people for disconnecting me because they started using the phone lol.
 

SmartIdiot

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Feb 10, 2009
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Mid 90's. BT Dial-up. It was awesome, except it was also shit. Of course, it was the best thing going at the time so we were in awe. Then we moved as cable was starting to pick up, then along came broadband. Of course, living at the arse end of fucking nowhere we didn't get it until a few years after everyone else.

While we're here anyone remember Comic Chat...?
 

Casual Shinji

Should've gone before we left.
Legacy
Jul 18, 2009
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I was late to the party; I think I got internet in 2004 or something.

I didn't even really know what to do with it when I got it.
 

Trifixion

Infamous Scribbler
Oct 13, 2009
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Internet nostalgia? Ah yes, I recall browsing the 'net using the built-in text-based browser on a VMS-equipped DEC 5000/25 in college. I remember being amazed at the advent of animated GIF's...the first one I saw was one of a bikini model who winked at you in the looping frames.

I also recall for my final college project I needed what at that time was a tremendous amount of hard drive space for one of those DEC stations. Fortunately, the company who sponsored me in the project was willing to cough up the $10,000 it cost for a 1 Gigabyte hard drive at the time.

Not an exaggeration on the price.

Damn, I feel old.
 

ejb626

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Aug 6, 2009
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I was 7 and it was dial-up off AOL, I never used it because it was slow and the phones shut off when it was being used. I think in the entire year of 2002 I only used the internet once.
 

LittleRena

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Nov 18, 2009
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I think I was about 14 or 15 when I first got the internet, mostly because my perants didn't have much money. First site I went on was a YuGiOh forum that I'd be going to during school.

As well as playing Red Alert 2 online with a friend.

And modified maps.

With snipers that could shoot down kirovs, school buses which could cross the map in a second and fire tasers, good times.
 

SnootyEnglishman

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May 26, 2009
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Late 90's we got AOL dial-up in the house and upgraded throughout the years until we finally got Buckeye Express thanks to a friend who worked for the company. Now we got cable connection and i have my own wireless router connected to the main.
 

ghostrider409895

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Mar 7, 2010
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I remember the first time I ever had Internet, I was about six or so. My family had one of those disks that offered free AOL for three months. The first website I went on was Cartoon Network. I remember it was the coolest thing, because I think that was also where I played my first electronic game. My favorite one was the one about Code Name: Kids Next Door. Of course after the three months we got rid of it, and we did not reinstall Internet until I began the seventh grade.

I miss those times, when I was young. The thing I miss most was that it was a lot eaiser to be ammused. For me personally, I just had a lot more fun. Now unless something is spectacular, I just cannot get too excited about it.
 

Distorted Stu

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Sep 22, 2009
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[HEADING=1]GET OFF THE INTERNET I WANT TO USE THE PHONE[/HEADING]

Those were the days..

oh, and i think i first when on in 1998?? First site i remember regualting was Habbo.
 

Babitz

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Jan 18, 2010
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Well, since I come from Croatia, which isn't exactly the most developed country out there, we were mid poor so I got my first computer in '99. I had a connection to the internet, the good old 56k, but I didn't really find it interesting. But, somewhere at the start of 2004., I came across a forum of a local gaming magazine I was reading and since then, I use the net a lot. First, it was just that particular forum, then it was the forum and ICQ, and then MSN. Then came the huge popularity of broadband internet, although it was still pretty much retard - free. Then came myspace and facebook and the internet started sucking some serious ass. I miss the good old days when you were considered a geek if you thought internet could be fun.