Internet access
1989 was the year that Tim Berners-Lee proposed the World Wide Web. Internet service for the masses was still a relatively new concept and the first internet service provider (ISP) to offer dial-up internet access was The World, but a better-known online service was CompuServe.
Around that time, it cost $40 for a CompuServe start-up kit, along with $0.21 per minute to communicate at either 1200 or 2400 bits per second (bps), or $0.10 per minute for modem moving data at 300 bps. That meant that about 30 minutes online per day – far less time than many of us now spend – would cost around $3 to $6.30, amounting to around $100 to $200 or so per month.
Today? Well, the average price of stand-alone internet service (i.e. service not bundled with cable TV or other services) was recently around $50 to $100 per month, and that’s for largely unlimited use, not the 30-minutes-a-day example above.
