When Did You First See.....?

[Cliff Ton 10,457]

When the internet first appeared, most home systems worked on dial-up broadband, and in those early days I didn't have any experience of it.

 

I first used the internet at work where they had broadband, which at the time was new and not widespread. So in my first couple of years on the internet I got used to fairly fast, smooth operation.

 

The first time I ever used dial-up was at someone's home, where it was normal at the time. I couldn't believe how slow and clunky it was, after a couple of years of using broadband.

[Hey Arnold 88]

Two things stick in my mind from dial up days, the high pitched screeching coming from the ether, like communication from another world, while dialing/ connecting and having to unplug the phone. 

[The Pianoman 1,532]

What I remember most about dial up is the £70-80 a month phone bill  

[Beekay 5,134]

Having just read through all this thread, and fascinating it was too. Anyway, it reminded me when mobile phones in cars first came out. I think at the time they were wired in the car. So a pal of ours bought himself a child's plastic replica of a mobile phone, like the 'brick'. He used to keep it in the car and when he had to stop at traffic lights, road junctions etc, he used to pick it up and pretend he was talking into it, so he could impress passers by. I'm grinning as I write this because it was hilarious. If he ever reads this, he'll kill me. Sorry Dave ! but you've got to admit, you did look a Prat.  

[philmayfield 6,115]

My first mobile was a car 'phone which was wired in but was removable and could be carried in a leather bag. The kids called it the talking handbag! When I first had one I used to delight in calling people and saying 'I'm on my car 'phone at the moment'. 

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

When the internet first started it was direct dial up 28Kbs!!! Most certainly not Broadband by any means, went through that in the early 90's.

Then DD at 55Kbs, boy did we think that was fast, then one to what we have now DSL at 1.5Mbs, yes still on it, the US led the world at one time, but we have large rural areas where cheap internet service means low broadband speed.

If I want 12Mbs I have to have satellite. Rural areas are poorly covered.

A new trunk fibreoptic cable was buried along the main roads in my area by a company to service high speed broadband, but not by our phone provider, no choice in that, it's the only one we can get. The cable is about two miles away, so no high speed broadband to fit our budget in the near future.

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

That loud screeching was "packets" being sent either way, and that's what you'd still hear if you heard the packets of info going back and forwards.  Amateur radio uses the same idea in digital modes like Packet and RTTY, thats what we hear if we turn the volume up on a radio operating in Packet mode.

[Jill Sparrow 10,304]

I used to wish it would packet in! It hurt my ears.

[Alpha 176]

2 hours ago, philmayfield said:

My first mobile was a car 'phone which was wired in but was removable and could be carried in a leather bag. The kids called it the talking handbag! When I first had one I used to delight in calling people and saying 'I'm on my car 'phone at the moment'. 

Poseur, Phil? Did you make calls in the supermarket too?

[Hey Arnold 88]

In 1987 when the hurricane that wasn't a hurricane hit the south coast I was working for a company called Solaglas, and they sent 14 of us from different parts of the country to help the local branches with storm damage repairs, first based in Portsmouth then Brighton. When we moved to Brighton they gave us all 'mobile' phones which were a corded handset that sat in a cradle on top of the battery pack. These looked like something signallers dragged ashore on D Day and I swear that when we charged them in the hotel at night all the lights went dim! Got to admit we all succumbed to posing though walking along  the sea front talking on our mobiles 

The network was Securicor cellnet later bought by BT 

[Rob.L 1,088]

Pedant time.

 

TSCR (Telecom Securicor Cellular Radio) was a joint venture between BT and Securicor, and traded as Cellnet. BT later bought-out Securicor’s share. Even later, Cellnet was rebranded as mmO2 and later just O2 before it was sold to Spanish company Telefonica. It’s now in a joint venture again, this time with Virgin Media.

That transportable phone you used would have cost the company something around £1500 at the time, had a battery life of only a few hours and the calls would have cost about 35p/min.

[philmayfield 6,115]

1 hour ago, Alpha said:

Poseur, Phil? Did you make calls in the supermarket too

Yes I did actually. I distinctly remember being in Sainsbury’s in Lincoln and asking my wife what she wanted from the fish counter. Everyone turned round of course!

[Hey Arnold 88]

Thanks @Rob.L for the info, I stand corrected. When we got the phones we were given a complimentary "leather" folder which had Securicor cellnet embossed on it and that's what my memories of 35 years ago dredged up 

[LizzieM 9,507]

My husband had a mobile phone in those early days. One day he was trying to make a call while driving down London’s Park Lane and got a crossed line.  He realised that it was a chap he knew (and didn’t like very much) having a humdinger of an argument with some other chap.  I’m sure ‘crossed lines’ were commonplace back then but unusual to actually end up listening to someone you know who was 30 miles away.  

[nonnaB 4,894]

My bil had a similar situation. He was phoning a new conquest and somehow his present gf heard the conversation. Hes married now with two boys but not to either girls.