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Re: [LUG] has the internet got really slow

 

Holygrail you're right! I forgot it was kbps. My friends back then said i had a great connection.  4.9kbps.

It was an interesting time, and "kids today" really don't know they're born with modern communications.

I remember my first 1200/75 modem with which I got addicted to a MUG, spending two hours a night paying a long distance call to Heathrow where it was hosted. Had a few sobering phone bills. I bought a second-hand 2400 modem from a guy at Newton Abbot banger track between races and paid almost a week's wages for it. (About three times the cost of the car I was racing!)  Worth it to gain an edge on other MUG players who were still mostly 1200/1200.

Seeing a screenful of text appearing one green character at a time was somehow magical and pioneering.

And early internet was faster. Not at network speed, but page sizes. Google UK's search page today is 38KB of html/css/js and 58KB of images. It used to be 5kb all-in (IIRC) and that was it's biggest selling point at the time when the alternatives with the incredibly slow to load and ad-ridden sites like Lycos and Altavista.

Now - streaming video instantly available at HD, filesizes rarely matter, people don't bother to resize images before they upload them and the costs for hardware and services have fallen through the floor. Everyone has at least one computer, and my phone has something like 64,000 times the processing power of the first NASA shuttle, and it's considered old-fashioned because it's a few years old. Progress has been made. :)
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