History of internet in Nottingham - innotts.co.uk


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In the early 90's The Internet came to Nottingham in the form of www.innotts.co.uk, run by Cindy & Alan Copsey, from servers based in the conservatory of a bungalow at Carlton.

Initially run on a few Diamond Cable lines, I believe 15 was the figure, this gave DC customers (free call) access to the internet.

Now this free call option was not liked by DC who instgated a 1p per minute rate for internet calls. This was fought by internet rebels like myself. These 'subversives' even organised themselves via the internet.

Innotts dissapeared, I believe bought out by a bigger concern. Input Innotts.co.uk today, you get Mistral internet?

Diamond Cable was swallowed up by NTL, The rest is History!

Here is an Archived Copy of Innotts page discussing the Proposed Competition By Diamond Cables Own Internet Service.

Quote Innotts.co.uk (1997)

Diamond Cable's Proposals

Before the rumours get out of hand... :)

It is my understanding that Diamond Cable are proposing:-

To go live with their own Internet Service on the 20th or so, of this month, January.

To charge about 0.46p (about 28p/hour) on ISP dialup numbers during the off-peak periods.

These two proposals are not coincidental.

We are not keen on either of these two proposals for a number of reasons both as individuals and as a company.

Not all Internet users conform to the stereotype and the proposed charges will affect their ability to use it, and for some it is less of a luxury than it is for others.

Many people have installed DC lines on the basis of the 'free calls'. This effectively reneges on that 'promise'.

This is in essence a tax on our subscribers. Overall, as this includes Leicester, and all the new DC covered areas, DC will receive a sizable sum per month. We can assume that this will be used to offset their own costs. (Assume 45pound/line/month and a total of 500 lines for all ISPs, gives 22500 pounds/month)

DC will be both a supplier and a competitor. If they are to fulfil both roles then, in the interests of fairness, they should separate the two roles. These proposals demonstrate that they have not done so.

innotts is NOT the only ISP who uses DC for their dial-up lines. There are a total of 7 ISP's in the DC catchment area(s) whose customers will be affected by these proposals. And of course, these customers of the ISPs are also customers of DC.

This is our understanding of the, as yet, unconfirmed proposals and our opinion of them. We would be interested in your opinions.

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And before they Drop off Archive Org, I would like to Include the text here for future reference....

Who are we?

innotts was started by Allen and Cindy Copsey. Back in August 94, we were sitting in a friend's garden in Norfolk, and he said to her, "How about a cybercafe?". Well, the -cafe part got lost on the way, but innotts got connected on St. Valentine's Day in 1995, and thanks to the support of friends, went live on March 1st.

We are most kindly described as a mature couple with many years experience in computing and industry, both manufacturing and service industries. We started the company with these principles in mind:-

We knew we would be dealing with newcomers, not only to the internet but computers as well, so support had to be good, non-technical, and friendly.

We had to provide good access. Busy signals are unavoidable but we wanted to keep them to a minimum, but consistent with not going bankrupt;)

We wanted to provide an honest and transparent service. We do not hype either the Internet, or ourselves. If we are guilty of anything, it is that we under-sell. You will have noticed that our pages are lacking flashy and gaudy graphics.

We believe we have lived up to these principles, but that is for our customers to say. That many of our new customers come to us by recommendation of friends and that new-comers into the industry tend to emulate us, is, we believe, testimony to that.

Our customer base has grown steadily since we started and we have increased our bandwidth, both incoming (in the number of dialup lines) and outgoing (our leased line). It has in many ways been an ideal growth.

Our customers have found us to be approachable and know that we listen to their comments and suggestions in order to provide a better service for them. We try to address any problems they may encounter both from a professional level and from a personal level. In return, we have a loyal customer base, although many of them are "spoiled" as far as Internet Services Providers are concerned ;-))

 

innotts - Online Subscription Form

This page offers you the opportunity to subscribe to the internet in nottingham by registering your details, where applicable and submitting the form for processing. You will be contacted by phone or email regarding payment details and to confirm the validity of the username(s) you have chosen.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Subscription Charges

The following prices are based on an initial startup fee of 17.63 UKP and the normal (non-discounted) monthly fee of 14.69 UKP, both inclusive of VAT.

Payment Frequency Quarterly 6-monthly Annually

Discount UKP -2.50 UKP -6.00 UKP -15.00

First Payment (including startup fee) UKP 58.75 UKP 98.70 UKP 173.32

Subsequent Payments UKP 41.12 UKP 81.08 UKP 155.69

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Innotts Users, Mid-late 90's

What happened to them?

innotts Users Personal Sitesaajohn

My Home Page

aardvark

It is about time I updated my pages, so please ignore all the mistakes

addabell

See what Oscar Wilde had to say.

advanced

alcon

Alien Concepts Limited, Nights Out in Nottingham, Leicester & Lincoln

allo

altheim

Altheim's Home pages (Links to Hucknall Against Rural development and Altheim's Anomalies)

ande

andyg

andyjg

andymarshall

andyzc

angusw

asallen

NEW!! J A V A NEW!!

ashley

Josh's Wado Ryu Karate Page Written using Office 97. Also featuring No More Heroes the Stranglers Trubute Band

asperges

Internationally Established * G4NJH AMATEUR RADIO PAGES In the UK *;

But there's more! - Wollaton Park; A celebration of Robert Burns;

Guy Fawkes in The 1605 Conspiracy; and finally St George of England.

atinuk

The A-T Appeal is a UK charity which aims to help people understand Ataxia-Telangiectasia. Updated 1 March 1997

atowler

Now completely redesigned! Tomb Raider, Tomb Raider 2 and SimCity 2000 (including huge link lists), HTML and Computing, and The Solid Air Archive!

aubit

austins

autoreel

backup

bacqss

baker

beaver

bgaylard

binstead

bite

bloore

Nottinghamshire Police 'Blow the whistle on homophobic crime'

The Health Shop

'Payne' & Pleasure with 'Madame Cyn'

booths

buck

bugg

cannon

canto

freejackQ

catlord

ceeffi

Hucknall Heritage, Lord Byron, Eric Coats, Benjamin Caunt,

Links to other Page on Ham-Radio, Astronomy, U F O's, T/V & Weather Satellites, Touring Caravan.

cens

CENS, Christian Education in Nottingham Schools

centser

cgilbert

We have links to the X-Files and Doom. This page is enhanced for Netscape 2.0 and Crescendo.

chart

Interceptor These pages are a tribute to this show by Chatsworth and Thames TV.

coaep

ORAC'S Home Page - Nottingham links, Video Conferencing, Computer Repair, Lighting Design, Sewing Control Systems, and lots of other stuff.

colemanrog

Roger Coleman's First attempt at a Home Page. Notes on Railways,Railway Modelling and Livesteam.Please try it.

colinn

colinp

This is the site for The Metropolitan Shooting Range and other related web pages.

The other pages are the products of a deranged mind (mine). Have a look, but don't say I didn't warn you !

combusc

Combus Systems Limited, Computer Consultancy

compuflair

controltraining

cooldown

coxfreeman

craic

Lee Cunnison

cycleshack

danno

Finally updated! With links to Arcade machine emulators, just visit my page & within minutes you`ll be playing Galaxian, Pac-Man, Space Invaders........

davehurt

daveshep

davidb

davidecosta

davidredman

dazz

dblack

dbooth

dcameron

delphi

denneyc

denny

digit1

djassasin

dmwiggins

dobbs

dominic

drjax

dsimons

durmson

URM's Home Page: Metal, Parachuting, Motorbikes blah blah...

dwitton

eddb

etches

fac51

Richard Cartledge's E28 BMW 5 SERIES On-line Fanzine... Owner's Tips, Maintenance, Safety Information, Specifications, Picture Gallery, Sounds, Movies, Automotive-Links.

finn

floors

fosiposi

frosty

ftstyle

g0cxd

gaby

Jumble Sail

Jumble Sail Homepage! Check for forthcoming gigs, reviews, profiles, etc.

garryh

Amiga Links, Formula One Links, Links 2 Links, etc. The usual Load of Rubbish really.

gatesfamily

grich

New Web Pages from Guy & Louise Richardson - Also home of the Carsington Sailing Club Web Pages!

hammy

hamster

handh

hardys

hassall

hawk

hayman

herod

htoon

ingram

interact

interference

The Interference Web Page, and more...

ispak

itsme

ivanh

Hot Software Links and other cool stuf

jabar

jackw

This page changes approximately every six months, as does this one.

jadey

Come on in & have a look around, let me know if somethings not working.

jamesmoss

3D pictures of GLQuake. No 3D glasses required! Under development

jamiebla

jardined

jasonp

jasonwright

jbrewer

My Homepage, with details of Shamus O'blivion & The Megadeath Morrismen Listenear Record Co

jester

Andy Brown's world of ?

jevarrel

jimbobs

My Home Page

jimbobski

The X-files, RMS Titanic, and the lowly Ford Fiesta as well as some Commuter Planning.

joagre

joe90

Andy Scattergood - Nottingham Forest fixtures, latest score, news...

The Doctor Who MultiMedia Quiz - Gay Guide to Nottingham

joerice

Veincheck Home Page Details of Veincheck, Biometric Keys, Biometric Smartcards, Keypsures, Biometric vehicle access, Smart Biometric digi cash. The future as I see it!. Page still under construction so be a little patient.

john

Anglers Corner & Gardeners World why not take a peep inside and see whats on offer

johns

johnws

jonh

jonyboy

Please Wait SOMETHING WONDERFULL IS HAPPENING

joshua

Charlie's Home from Home isn't about Quake, but why don't you visit it anyway? Go on, you know you want to.

jsafa

jschmidt

jsweeney

judge

justinsmith

Basically my own interests here : Arsenal, Babylon 5, 2000AD and Medicine (no accounting for taste)

kaotik

kburton

Ken & Kevin welcome you to "The Golden Girls" area of cyberspace!

kemmer

kennedy

kevf

Please come visit! It is not too dull!

keyit

kmcken

kswainson

lahutch

The Taff Hutchings Pages, for collectors of Police Shields, Hats, Badges and Photographs of Police Vehicles etc,.

leo

luca

luck

lynx

madbox

madcap

manvers

markald

markf

Mark's homepage - presently under construction... Please be patient!

markmcf

mdymott

mghill

michgib2

microstar

mikeb

mikecls

Welcome to a real load of rubbish, but it gave me something to do for Ten minutes.

milbourn

The Unofficial Cambridge Modular Physics A level Site(with free work sheets)

mjellis

mmoroney

animated gif drivers computer support

moultj

It has been said that this is the most interesting site on the web. But who listens to me anyway?

murray

mykul

nchlinrese

neilms

nevilleb

newmans

Well its here. My Page. You better come and see it.. (If only for the photo) :o)

nicholas

nickbacon

ninga

nivram

nowicki

nwaters

olliboy

Chandran Owen

pafreight

pansoft

Pan'S home page. The home of: Altered Realities my 3D section, Nottingham Local History & Nottingham Caves

pauleve

paulhand

Updated - our holidays - including Airtours replies!

Welcome to us... our hobbies and interests... our photos... our holidays... our Java applets... our tv and film choices...

Search the web... search the movie database...

Share and enjoy!

pault

Hovercraft homepage - HoverClub of Great Britain information

Peter Coghill

pdaly

Philip Daly's Home Page containing music and theatre news and reviews.

pete

petemall

petew

pfreal

philt

pichard

pjtomo

pkdltd

pmhowell

pod

Directions to hospitals and clinics in the U.K. Your input welcomed.

ppounder

preset

pswright

Phill's Home Page - With links to Gerry Anderson and Steven's Dogmatix Page.

psych

purplec

rainbow

raven

raylye

rfellows

rharding

richclem

richwill

rick

Guess what... 'under construction'!

rigden

rmarson1

Check out the Chart number ones from this week in years gone by.

robertc

Welcome back to Rob's OLD home page.Would be new but I aint got a cumputer any more:_((((((

robmel

rscott

Home for Carlton Ware collectors.

rshelton

Updated!

Welcome to us... our hobbies and interests... our photos... our holidays... our Java applets... our tv and film choices...

Search the web... search the movie database...

Share and enjoy!

rur

russclarke

russell

rzgorski

Wibble-wobble !

salvia

A Quake league for all you innotts Quakers (and some stuff on llamas).

samfays

nottingham, sam fay's, sam fays, nightclub, nightspot, live music, live bands, restaurant, pub

sandam

Mandelbrot-Plus: Extensions of the Mandelbrot Set, with different values n in z-->z^n+c. and MEI Structured Maths: Unofficial answers to A level questions

sauron

scott

Welcome, to Walkers Web Page

seaeagle

Innotts most Southerly home page - hosting information about Horse Driving in the UK from the Oaks Driving Club , and more about me than you ever wanted to know.

sensible

Sensible Systems Ltd Suppliers of computer hardware, Upgrade components, Computer consultancy ,MS-Access Programming.

sensky

Don't click on ~sensky! Go to http://www.innotts.co.uk/npo instead!

sergeant

setter

Alan's Alanis Page

sfish

Steve Fish's little bit of Cyberspace Welcome fellow netizens.

sgoodson

shaka

HOME OF THE RASTAFARIAN HISTORIAN Hemp/Marijuana links History links Speeches Photo's Reggae Artists

shepherd

shutch

silthas

simbad

simonc

Brings you the CyberMoggie Page, Revenge on my Best Man and other stuff.

skippy

smatt

Click here to jump straight to Smatts index of BANTA and other funny Stuff

soloman

spacey

HEMP/CANNABIS reform pages...if you think this is a bad drug you need educating....check these links...then have a rethink...and maybe sign the PETITION.....

sparky

Windows NT resources, Football links and more (check the new, updated, NT page!).

sranthony

Simon's site. This growing ACORN site contains My World support software, pics of the Anthony family, some of my daft stories, my CV and anything else I can think of. Now totally, well a bit updated with frames (don't know why).

sthman

Jennys Spicey, Billy Joel DOGZ pages.

stnics

storm

FiReSToRM oF PSP CoDe & HPACDV LiNX aND STuFF

swoodrof

tango

teepee

teepee is the editor of innews and his interests include current affairs, boxing and education. He lives in Derby.

teixeira

thomas

and trAce

tillson

Information about Hot Air Ballooning and Weather Forecasts

timboo

timp

tommys

tonyb

tonyell

tqcltd

ttsl

vega

victoria

vssnottm

walker

waynec

wgomes

whitehd

wjsl

woodall

woodhead

19th World Scout Jamboree Chile 1999 - Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire Unit

wrencomp

zephyr

zynipoe

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That brings back some memories.

I had some dealings with Gary Davis (part owner of the DC franchise) in pre internet days.

I never ceased to be amazed by the Yanks insularity. They would bring consultants over from the States who had no idea about the nature of the UK market. For example they were dead keen on a 24 hour weather channel. You just couldn't get it into their heads that since we never have the kind of life threatening weather, that is part and parcel of the US climate, such a service didn't make sense.

That said, when DC sold out to NTL the guys that came along weren't much better.

What a pity that the potential for local content has never been fully exploited by cable - particularly since production costs are that much lower now with PC-based editing.

Cheers,

Bamber

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Yes I remember the name Gary Davis too.

There was another small internet company at Daybrook, which was part of Roadrunner Despatch. Might even still be there across from the Coop on Mansfield Road.

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Ah of course, a small Internet Service supplier still in business.

I see a term on their site which is familliar to me in Hosting, RESELLER.

They are selling broadband to Resellers, I am sure Proweb must be pretty high up on the Tree, But with Resellers Re Selling you never know where you are.

Another Company that started in the Mid 90's as an ISP, waS A gUY called Mardlin wh had a Bulletin Board Called Nildram BBS. They are now Nildram Internet

I am not sure where they are but there could be a clue here?

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  • 2 months later...

Is Ceefax still around? I have never used it here in Oz. We aren't all pervs/weirdo's & loonies who use the net Flat Cap,there are plenty of the above who don't even know how to use a PC,mind you I have to agree with you to a degree,it has opened up a whole range of stuff that can be accessed for people who feel the need to ,eg Gary Glitter :tease:

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Internet you say.....worst thing that evey happened ! opened the world to sad chatrooms, pervs and naredoowells, plus scum from the lower end of the food chain and Forums for sad people. All I do is book flights out of this craphole. Use ceefax thats what I say.

You're here too... ;)

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One and six you say !....well thats somthing I suppose. I dared to venture out to the local the other night. I narrowly missed being mugged as the local thugs were laying into another pensioner...I managed to slip by.

I asked for half a mild and was met by a bill of over £1.00, needless to say I walked out and went home.

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  • 7 years later...

First used it on a Mac when I worked at Central TV on Lenton Lane. What made it slightly different - although I didn't appreciate it at the time - was that it was broadband when almost everybody everywhere was still using dial-up.

First time I ever actually used dial-up - at someone's house - I couldn't believe how slow and clunky it was. I'd been spoiled by learning on broadband and assumed that's how it was everywhere.

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First used the internet when my daughter went on a school skiing trip to Austria in 2002, her teacher had a page on the school internet site and he posted, photos and letters, so the parents could see them.

Today, I use it to keep in contact with family and friends, in France and other country's, along with shopping for things I cannot buy over here, I also read the news papers on line, my wife uses it a lot less than I do, she uses it a mostly when working from home, doing things like research and for videoconferencing with her American and Canadian colleagues, and at times ordering the shopping from the local drive......

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Started using the internet after my first husband and I separated in 2002.......my daughters taught me the basics. Met my present husband on friends reunited, so yes had a pretty huge impact on my life. Now use it for keeping in touch with family and friends worldwide, banking and shopping (sometimes) and its a great reference point, and have built my own web site... :)

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When I first got on the internet 28.8kbs was the fastest available, could only get DDL.... No such thing back then as DSL or broadband over cable.. That's nearly 20 years ago now.

I used to breed African Pygmy goats back then, and did a search and not one single site regarding pygmy goats back at that time.

I set my own web site up around 1994, still have the site on disc...

There were only two browsers too back then, you either used MS Explorer or paid for Netscape, which was the better of the two browsers, my ISP at that time licensed Netscape, so got it as part of the service, I think it was on three 3.5 floppies, and yes back then we had 5.25 floppies on our computers too...NO CD player's writers.....LOL

My computer back then was a 286 processor with 250kb of ram and a 40Mb hard drive........ How did we manage back then?????

Windows 95 too, although I started with DOS, various versions, never did use the first Windows, never liked it until 95 came along.

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I might also add, if you wanted to build web sites pre 1994, you had to do it the hard way, learn HTML and type it into notepad, the first web construction software was expensive and pretty basic by todays standards but still sought after, as even now it's almost foolproof to use, Norton marketed it, I still have my copy, but it won't run in anything past Win 98.

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Started in the mid 90s on my old Atari ST with a 14.4 dial up modem. Used for e-mail with the very few who had computers hooked up to the 'Net at that time. Upgraded to my first Windows PC with Win 98 and Netscape. First wife died in 1999. After a year or so I started communicating with a lady in Georgia via a site called "Widownet" Designed for the involuntarily unspoused. :Friends: We were married a few months later and I now live in Ga. So I guess you could say the internet had quite an effect!

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Not strictly internet but back in 1986 I was doing some development work for the London listings publisher Time Out who were interested in the potential of electronic information systems.

I was using a BBC Master 128 with a dual 5.25" floppy drive - no more loading programs from tape - and a 600baud V22bis Black Box analogue modem.

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I've always said that integral modems were the biggest boon towards the development of mass market use of the internet. Just plug in and go - well almost.

The stand alone modems could be buggers to set-up if you didn't know what you were doing and had to rely on the rubbish documentation that came with them.

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First modems I had anything to do with ran at 300bit/sec, all the way up to a massive 2400bit/sec, which came in a box bigger than a suitcase.

This was in the 1970s, though, and customers were exclusively businesses. Even the fledgling ATM networks run by banks like Nat West only used 600bit/sec modems - but on dedicated circuits rather than dial-up.

My first personal use, though, wasn't until the early 90s, when the company gave me a laptop with built-in modem and I subscribed to Compuserve.

Still got that laptop in the loft - a 486DX running Windows 3.1, with 64k RAM and 6.4 meg hard disk!

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