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What was the equivalent of “America Online†(AOL) outside America?
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The rise in popularity of home PCs with modems in the U.S. coincided with the rise of America Online. Of course, many of us in America were online for years before this - using Compuserve, GEnie, and BBS's mostly. But for mainstream America first acquiring home computers in the early-1990s, AOL was basically the "killer app". Subsequently, this national "addiction" to AOL led to rapid growth in Internet as most Americans got their introduction to the Internet via AOL.
Given the uniquely American roots of AOL, my assumption is that it was not so dominant or important in Europe and Asia as it was here in the U.S. So what online services, if any, led the way in other regions' inhabitants deciding to get online in the first place, and eventually get on the Internet?
internet
asked 4 hours ago
Brian H
15.4k56132
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up vote
1
down vote
favorite
The rise in popularity of home PCs with modems in the U.S. coincided with the rise of America Online. Of course, many of us in America were online for years before this - using Compuserve, GEnie, and BBS's mostly. But for mainstream America first acquiring home computers in the early-1990s, AOL was basically the "killer app". Subsequently, this national "addiction" to AOL led to rapid growth in Internet as most Americans got their introduction to the Internet via AOL.
Given the uniquely American roots of AOL, my assumption is that it was not so dominant or important in Europe and Asia as it was here in the U.S. So what online services, if any, led the way in other regions' inhabitants deciding to get online in the first place, and eventually get on the Internet?
internet
asked 4 hours ago
Brian H
15.4k56132
At some point the company changed its name from "America Online" to "AOL". This latter name was certainly used in the UK where AOL still has business today - so I conclude that for the UK, one equivalent of AOL was AOL
– dave
3 hours ago
1
In Japan 15-20 years ago, most people were online through their cell phones when North Americans used desktop computers. I believe much of Africa also uses cell phones for most Internet access.
– traal
3 hours ago
1
@traal well, 15 years ago is already when AOL started its way down. I think we can narrow down the era in question for somewhere between 1980 and 1995.
– Raffzahn
3 hours ago
@traal AOL's boom time was well before the cellphone.
– tofro
2 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
favorite
up vote
1
down vote
favorite
The rise in popularity of home PCs with modems in the U.S. coincided with the rise of America Online. Of course, many of us in America were online for years before this - using Compuserve, GEnie, and BBS's mostly. But for mainstream America first acquiring home computers in the early-1990s, AOL was basically the "killer app". Subsequently, this national "addiction" to AOL led to rapid growth in Internet as most Americans got their introduction to the Internet via AOL.
Given the uniquely American roots of AOL, my assumption is that it was not so dominant or important in Europe and Asia as it was here in the U.S. So what online services, if any, led the way in other regions' inhabitants deciding to get online in the first place, and eventually get on the Internet?
internet
asked 4 hours ago
Brian H
15.4k56132
The rise in popularity of home PCs with modems in the U.S. coincided with the rise of America Online. Of course, many of us in America were online for years before this - using Compuserve, GEnie, and BBS's mostly. But for mainstream America first acquiring home computers in the early-1990s, AOL was basically the "killer app". Subsequently, this national "addiction" to AOL led to rapid growth in Internet as most Americans got their introduction to the Internet via AOL.
Given the uniquely American roots of AOL, my assumption is that it was not so dominant or important in Europe and Asia as it was here in the U.S. So what online services, if any, led the way in other regions' inhabitants deciding to get online in the first place, and eventually get on the Internet?
internet
internet
asked 4 hours ago
Brian H
15.4k56132
asked 4 hours ago
Brian H
15.4k56132
asked 4 hours ago
Brian H
15.4k56132
asked 4 hours ago
Brian H
15.4k56132
asked 4 hours ago
Brian H
15.4k56132
15.4k56132
At some point the company changed its name from "America Online" to "AOL". This latter name was certainly used in the UK where AOL still has business today - so I conclude that for the UK, one equivalent of AOL was AOL
– dave
3 hours ago
1
In Japan 15-20 years ago, most people were online through their cell phones when North Americans used desktop computers. I believe much of Africa also uses cell phones for most Internet access.
– traal
3 hours ago
1
@traal well, 15 years ago is already when AOL started its way down. I think we can narrow down the era in question for somewhere between 1980 and 1995.
– Raffzahn
3 hours ago
@traal AOL's boom time was well before the cellphone.
– tofro
2 hours ago
add a comment |Â
At some point the company changed its name from "America Online" to "AOL". This latter name was certainly used in the UK where AOL still has business today - so I conclude that for the UK, one equivalent of AOL was AOL
– dave
3 hours ago
1
In Japan 15-20 years ago, most people were online through their cell phones when North Americans used desktop computers. I believe much of Africa also uses cell phones for most Internet access.
– traal
3 hours ago
1
@traal well, 15 years ago is already when AOL started its way down. I think we can narrow down the era in question for somewhere between 1980 and 1995.
– Raffzahn
3 hours ago
@traal AOL's boom time was well before the cellphone.
– tofro
2 hours ago
At some point the company changed its name from "America Online" to "AOL". This latter name was certainly used in the UK where AOL still has business today - so I conclude that for the UK, one equivalent of AOL was AOL
– dave
3 hours ago
At some point the company changed its name from "America Online" to "AOL". This latter name was certainly used in the UK where AOL still has business today - so I conclude that for the UK, one equivalent of AOL was AOL
– dave
3 hours ago
1
1
In Japan 15-20 years ago, most people were online through their cell phones when North Americans used desktop computers. I believe much of Africa also uses cell phones for most Internet access.
– traal
3 hours ago
In Japan 15-20 years ago, most people were online through their cell phones when North Americans used desktop computers. I believe much of Africa also uses cell phones for most Internet access.
– traal
3 hours ago
1
1
@traal well, 15 years ago is already when AOL started its way down. I think we can narrow down the era in question for somewhere between 1980 and 1995.
– Raffzahn
3 hours ago
@traal well, 15 years ago is already when AOL started its way down. I think we can narrow down the era in question for somewhere between 1980 and 1995.
– Raffzahn
3 hours ago
@traal AOL's boom time was well before the cellphone.
– tofro
2 hours ago
@traal AOL's boom time was well before the cellphone.
– tofro
2 hours ago
add a comment |Â
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
up vote
2
down vote
Given the uniquely American roots of AOL,
Why should AOL be anymore unique american than a C64 - selling quite well in all of Europe and some other parts.
my assumption is that it was not so dominant or important in Europe and Asia as it was here in the U.S.
It was. At by the amount of xxx-hours-free-internet-CDs atatched to magazines and droped in each mailbox.
So what online services, if any, led the way in other regions' inhabitants deciding to get online in the first place, and eventually get on the Internet?
Online systems for average users started in Europe around 1980. For example GeoNet in Germany - which in some sense became the prototype for character based online systems. In fact, the year 1980 was in Germany a serious backslash for BBS systms, as local calls where no longer free.
1984/85 is when the BBS scene became a real vibrant, with several networks poping up. Like Mausnet or Zerberus - Fido as well. Especialy Zerberus or Z-Net as it was called later on, played an important role, as it was the first system that allowed the use of a common infrastructure for vastly different content systems. Unlike Fido, where such systems had to setup their own network structure. Similar developments happened in other European countries.
In parallel (almost) each European countrys telecom offered some online system based around the idea of using a TV set as terminal. Success varied greatly where the UK PRESTEL barly attracted 100k users, did the German Bildschirmtext
peak out at 1 Million users - about the time the service got merged into a new one with internet integration. The French Minitel eventually did beat them all with 15 Million users - that's 25% of the total population, including babies and grannies. It even existed in parallel for several years after general availibility of internet access.
Similar systems where available all over Europe:
- Bildschirmtext in Germany and Austria
- Ibertex in Spain
- Minitel in France and Belgium
- Teledata in Denmark,
- Teleguide in Sweden
- TeleSampo in Finland
- Viditel in the Netherlands
- Videotel in Italy
- Videotex in Swizerland
And so on. Most systems followed either the Franch or German standard. For example the Austrian, German, Danish, Spanish and Swiss systems where BTX
These systems where the big players during the 1980s into 1990s. About the time when national telecoms started to offer internet access in the early 90s, AOL also entered the nw liberalized markets and became a big player - alas not the overwhelmign success as in the US. For one the still well performing Btx/Minitel systems where only slowly declining, while the internet, thanks to the WWW, becaem the choice for progressive users.
And the rest is History.
answered 3 hours ago
Raffzahn
40.5k492166
2
AOL was most known for plastering the world with their free CDs (that nobody wanted...)
– tofro
2 hours ago
I guess these CDs were used much more to scare birds away from the cherry trees than to access the Web... I remember times when you saw them hanging from almost every cherry tree in my surroundings.
– tofro
1 hour ago
2
Don't be too hard on the OP's world view. In the mid 1990s we had a visit from a bright 20-something American, with a bachelor's degree, who had just joined an American company and was on his first business trip to the UK. He was absolutely astounded to discover that "uniquely American" products like McDonalds and Coca-Cola were available everywhere in a foreign country!
– alephzero
1 hour ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
Can only speak for myself: I never wanted the limited, cut-down internet access provided by AOL or my national telco.
IBM offered the first "real", non-proprietary internet access as a package with OS/2 Warp that got me into the internet. You could use the IAK (Internet Access Kit) that was the killer app of Warp and buy a monthly service through IBM network services (The "IBM Global Network"). If you were lucky to have a PoP near you, it was actually one of the cheaper options to get full unlimited internet access.
Before that, I was using Fidonet internet gateways for mail.
answered 2 hours ago
tofro
13.6k32877
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
In the UK, CompuServe, CIX, and Demon Internet were the most influential early ISPs, but there were plenty more, such as Dircon, Pipex and Freeserve.
AOL had customers, but was not terribly successful. The determination its UK marketing team had to make sure everyone got at least two AOL CDs every month was counter-productive, in that if you keep trying to force something that's free on the British, they'll assume it's worthless.
answered 1 hour ago
John Dallman
21315
add a comment |Â
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
2
down vote
Given the uniquely American roots of AOL,
Why should AOL be anymore unique american than a C64 - selling quite well in all of Europe and some other parts.
my assumption is that it was not so dominant or important in Europe and Asia as it was here in the U.S.
It was. At by the amount of xxx-hours-free-internet-CDs atatched to magazines and droped in each mailbox.
So what online services, if any, led the way in other regions' inhabitants deciding to get online in the first place, and eventually get on the Internet?
Online systems for average users started in Europe around 1980. For example GeoNet in Germany - which in some sense became the prototype for character based online systems. In fact, the year 1980 was in Germany a serious backslash for BBS systms, as local calls where no longer free.
1984/85 is when the BBS scene became a real vibrant, with several networks poping up. Like Mausnet or Zerberus - Fido as well. Especialy Zerberus or Z-Net as it was called later on, played an important role, as it was the first system that allowed the use of a common infrastructure for vastly different content systems. Unlike Fido, where such systems had to setup their own network structure. Similar developments happened in other European countries.
In parallel (almost) each European countrys telecom offered some online system based around the idea of using a TV set as terminal. Success varied greatly where the UK PRESTEL barly attracted 100k users, did the German Bildschirmtext
peak out at 1 Million users - about the time the service got merged into a new one with internet integration. The French Minitel eventually did beat them all with 15 Million users - that's 25% of the total population, including babies and grannies. It even existed in parallel for several years after general availibility of internet access.
Similar systems where available all over Europe:
- Bildschirmtext in Germany and Austria
- Ibertex in Spain
- Minitel in France and Belgium
- Teledata in Denmark,
- Teleguide in Sweden
- TeleSampo in Finland
- Viditel in the Netherlands
- Videotel in Italy
- Videotex in Swizerland
And so on. Most systems followed either the Franch or German standard. For example the Austrian, German, Danish, Spanish and Swiss systems where BTX
These systems where the big players during the 1980s into 1990s. About the time when national telecoms started to offer internet access in the early 90s, AOL also entered the nw liberalized markets and became a big player - alas not the overwhelmign success as in the US. For one the still well performing Btx/Minitel systems where only slowly declining, while the internet, thanks to the WWW, becaem the choice for progressive users.
And the rest is History.
answered 3 hours ago
Raffzahn
40.5k492166
2
AOL was most known for plastering the world with their free CDs (that nobody wanted...)
– tofro
2 hours ago
I guess these CDs were used much more to scare birds away from the cherry trees than to access the Web... I remember times when you saw them hanging from almost every cherry tree in my surroundings.
– tofro
1 hour ago
2
Don't be too hard on the OP's world view. In the mid 1990s we had a visit from a bright 20-something American, with a bachelor's degree, who had just joined an American company and was on his first business trip to the UK. He was absolutely astounded to discover that "uniquely American" products like McDonalds and Coca-Cola were available everywhere in a foreign country!
– alephzero
1 hour ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
Given the uniquely American roots of AOL,
Why should AOL be anymore unique american than a C64 - selling quite well in all of Europe and some other parts.
my assumption is that it was not so dominant or important in Europe and Asia as it was here in the U.S.
It was. At by the amount of xxx-hours-free-internet-CDs atatched to magazines and droped in each mailbox.
So what online services, if any, led the way in other regions' inhabitants deciding to get online in the first place, and eventually get on the Internet?
Online systems for average users started in Europe around 1980. For example GeoNet in Germany - which in some sense became the prototype for character based online systems. In fact, the year 1980 was in Germany a serious backslash for BBS systms, as local calls where no longer free.
1984/85 is when the BBS scene became a real vibrant, with several networks poping up. Like Mausnet or Zerberus - Fido as well. Especialy Zerberus or Z-Net as it was called later on, played an important role, as it was the first system that allowed the use of a common infrastructure for vastly different content systems. Unlike Fido, where such systems had to setup their own network structure. Similar developments happened in other European countries.
In parallel (almost) each European countrys telecom offered some online system based around the idea of using a TV set as terminal. Success varied greatly where the UK PRESTEL barly attracted 100k users, did the German Bildschirmtext
peak out at 1 Million users - about the time the service got merged into a new one with internet integration. The French Minitel eventually did beat them all with 15 Million users - that's 25% of the total population, including babies and grannies. It even existed in parallel for several years after general availibility of internet access.
Similar systems where available all over Europe:
- Bildschirmtext in Germany and Austria
- Ibertex in Spain
- Minitel in France and Belgium
- Teledata in Denmark,
- Teleguide in Sweden
- TeleSampo in Finland
- Viditel in the Netherlands
- Videotel in Italy
- Videotex in Swizerland
And so on. Most systems followed either the Franch or German standard. For example the Austrian, German, Danish, Spanish and Swiss systems where BTX
These systems where the big players during the 1980s into 1990s. About the time when national telecoms started to offer internet access in the early 90s, AOL also entered the nw liberalized markets and became a big player - alas not the overwhelmign success as in the US. For one the still well performing Btx/Minitel systems where only slowly declining, while the internet, thanks to the WWW, becaem the choice for progressive users.
And the rest is History.
answered 3 hours ago
Raffzahn
40.5k492166
2
AOL was most known for plastering the world with their free CDs (that nobody wanted...)
– tofro
2 hours ago
I guess these CDs were used much more to scare birds away from the cherry trees than to access the Web... I remember times when you saw them hanging from almost every cherry tree in my surroundings.
– tofro
1 hour ago
2
Don't be too hard on the OP's world view. In the mid 1990s we had a visit from a bright 20-something American, with a bachelor's degree, who had just joined an American company and was on his first business trip to the UK. He was absolutely astounded to discover that "uniquely American" products like McDonalds and Coca-Cola were available everywhere in a foreign country!
– alephzero
1 hour ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
2
down vote
up vote
2
down vote
Given the uniquely American roots of AOL,
Why should AOL be anymore unique american than a C64 - selling quite well in all of Europe and some other parts.
my assumption is that it was not so dominant or important in Europe and Asia as it was here in the U.S.
It was. At by the amount of xxx-hours-free-internet-CDs atatched to magazines and droped in each mailbox.
So what online services, if any, led the way in other regions' inhabitants deciding to get online in the first place, and eventually get on the Internet?
Online systems for average users started in Europe around 1980. For example GeoNet in Germany - which in some sense became the prototype for character based online systems. In fact, the year 1980 was in Germany a serious backslash for BBS systms, as local calls where no longer free.
1984/85 is when the BBS scene became a real vibrant, with several networks poping up. Like Mausnet or Zerberus - Fido as well. Especialy Zerberus or Z-Net as it was called later on, played an important role, as it was the first system that allowed the use of a common infrastructure for vastly different content systems. Unlike Fido, where such systems had to setup their own network structure. Similar developments happened in other European countries.
In parallel (almost) each European countrys telecom offered some online system based around the idea of using a TV set as terminal. Success varied greatly where the UK PRESTEL barly attracted 100k users, did the German Bildschirmtext
peak out at 1 Million users - about the time the service got merged into a new one with internet integration. The French Minitel eventually did beat them all with 15 Million users - that's 25% of the total population, including babies and grannies. It even existed in parallel for several years after general availibility of internet access.
Similar systems where available all over Europe:
- Bildschirmtext in Germany and Austria
- Ibertex in Spain
- Minitel in France and Belgium
- Teledata in Denmark,
- Teleguide in Sweden
- TeleSampo in Finland
- Viditel in the Netherlands
- Videotel in Italy
- Videotex in Swizerland
And so on. Most systems followed either the Franch or German standard. For example the Austrian, German, Danish, Spanish and Swiss systems where BTX
These systems where the big players during the 1980s into 1990s. About the time when national telecoms started to offer internet access in the early 90s, AOL also entered the nw liberalized markets and became a big player - alas not the overwhelmign success as in the US. For one the still well performing Btx/Minitel systems where only slowly declining, while the internet, thanks to the WWW, becaem the choice for progressive users.
And the rest is History.
answered 3 hours ago
Raffzahn
40.5k492166
Given the uniquely American roots of AOL,
Why should AOL be anymore unique american than a C64 - selling quite well in all of Europe and some other parts.
my assumption is that it was not so dominant or important in Europe and Asia as it was here in the U.S.
It was. At by the amount of xxx-hours-free-internet-CDs atatched to magazines and droped in each mailbox.
So what online services, if any, led the way in other regions' inhabitants deciding to get online in the first place, and eventually get on the Internet?
Online systems for average users started in Europe around 1980. For example GeoNet in Germany - which in some sense became the prototype for character based online systems. In fact, the year 1980 was in Germany a serious backslash for BBS systms, as local calls where no longer free.
1984/85 is when the BBS scene became a real vibrant, with several networks poping up. Like Mausnet or Zerberus - Fido as well. Especialy Zerberus or Z-Net as it was called later on, played an important role, as it was the first system that allowed the use of a common infrastructure for vastly different content systems. Unlike Fido, where such systems had to setup their own network structure. Similar developments happened in other European countries.
In parallel (almost) each European countrys telecom offered some online system based around the idea of using a TV set as terminal. Success varied greatly where the UK PRESTEL barly attracted 100k users, did the German Bildschirmtext
peak out at 1 Million users - about the time the service got merged into a new one with internet integration. The French Minitel eventually did beat them all with 15 Million users - that's 25% of the total population, including babies and grannies. It even existed in parallel for several years after general availibility of internet access.
Similar systems where available all over Europe:
- Bildschirmtext in Germany and Austria
- Ibertex in Spain
- Minitel in France and Belgium
- Teledata in Denmark,
- Teleguide in Sweden
- TeleSampo in Finland
- Viditel in the Netherlands
- Videotel in Italy
- Videotex in Swizerland
And so on. Most systems followed either the Franch or German standard. For example the Austrian, German, Danish, Spanish and Swiss systems where BTX
These systems where the big players during the 1980s into 1990s. About the time when national telecoms started to offer internet access in the early 90s, AOL also entered the nw liberalized markets and became a big player - alas not the overwhelmign success as in the US. For one the still well performing Btx/Minitel systems where only slowly declining, while the internet, thanks to the WWW, becaem the choice for progressive users.
And the rest is History.
answered 3 hours ago
Raffzahn
40.5k492166
edited 2 hours ago
answered 3 hours ago
Raffzahn
40.5k492166
answered 3 hours ago
Raffzahn
40.5k492166
answered 3 hours ago
Raffzahn
40.5k492166
40.5k492166
2
AOL was most known for plastering the world with their free CDs (that nobody wanted...)
– tofro
2 hours ago
I guess these CDs were used much more to scare birds away from the cherry trees than to access the Web... I remember times when you saw them hanging from almost every cherry tree in my surroundings.
– tofro
1 hour ago
2
Don't be too hard on the OP's world view. In the mid 1990s we had a visit from a bright 20-something American, with a bachelor's degree, who had just joined an American company and was on his first business trip to the UK. He was absolutely astounded to discover that "uniquely American" products like McDonalds and Coca-Cola were available everywhere in a foreign country!
– alephzero
1 hour ago
add a comment |Â
2
AOL was most known for plastering the world with their free CDs (that nobody wanted...)
– tofro
2 hours ago
I guess these CDs were used much more to scare birds away from the cherry trees than to access the Web... I remember times when you saw them hanging from almost every cherry tree in my surroundings.
– tofro
1 hour ago
2
Don't be too hard on the OP's world view. In the mid 1990s we had a visit from a bright 20-something American, with a bachelor's degree, who had just joined an American company and was on his first business trip to the UK. He was absolutely astounded to discover that "uniquely American" products like McDonalds and Coca-Cola were available everywhere in a foreign country!
– alephzero
1 hour ago
2
2
AOL was most known for plastering the world with their free CDs (that nobody wanted...)
– tofro
2 hours ago
AOL was most known for plastering the world with their free CDs (that nobody wanted...)
– tofro
2 hours ago
I guess these CDs were used much more to scare birds away from the cherry trees than to access the Web... I remember times when you saw them hanging from almost every cherry tree in my surroundings.
– tofro
1 hour ago
I guess these CDs were used much more to scare birds away from the cherry trees than to access the Web... I remember times when you saw them hanging from almost every cherry tree in my surroundings.
– tofro
1 hour ago
2
2
Don't be too hard on the OP's world view. In the mid 1990s we had a visit from a bright 20-something American, with a bachelor's degree, who had just joined an American company and was on his first business trip to the UK. He was absolutely astounded to discover that "uniquely American" products like McDonalds and Coca-Cola were available everywhere in a foreign country!
– alephzero
1 hour ago
Don't be too hard on the OP's world view. In the mid 1990s we had a visit from a bright 20-something American, with a bachelor's degree, who had just joined an American company and was on his first business trip to the UK. He was absolutely astounded to discover that "uniquely American" products like McDonalds and Coca-Cola were available everywhere in a foreign country!
– alephzero
1 hour ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
Can only speak for myself: I never wanted the limited, cut-down internet access provided by AOL or my national telco.
IBM offered the first "real", non-proprietary internet access as a package with OS/2 Warp that got me into the internet. You could use the IAK (Internet Access Kit) that was the killer app of Warp and buy a monthly service through IBM network services (The "IBM Global Network"). If you were lucky to have a PoP near you, it was actually one of the cheaper options to get full unlimited internet access.
Before that, I was using Fidonet internet gateways for mail.
answered 2 hours ago
tofro
13.6k32877
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
Can only speak for myself: I never wanted the limited, cut-down internet access provided by AOL or my national telco.
IBM offered the first "real", non-proprietary internet access as a package with OS/2 Warp that got me into the internet. You could use the IAK (Internet Access Kit) that was the killer app of Warp and buy a monthly service through IBM network services (The "IBM Global Network"). If you were lucky to have a PoP near you, it was actually one of the cheaper options to get full unlimited internet access.
Before that, I was using Fidonet internet gateways for mail.
answered 2 hours ago
tofro
13.6k32877
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
up vote
1
down vote
Can only speak for myself: I never wanted the limited, cut-down internet access provided by AOL or my national telco.
IBM offered the first "real", non-proprietary internet access as a package with OS/2 Warp that got me into the internet. You could use the IAK (Internet Access Kit) that was the killer app of Warp and buy a monthly service through IBM network services (The "IBM Global Network"). If you were lucky to have a PoP near you, it was actually one of the cheaper options to get full unlimited internet access.
Before that, I was using Fidonet internet gateways for mail.
answered 2 hours ago
tofro
13.6k32877
Can only speak for myself: I never wanted the limited, cut-down internet access provided by AOL or my national telco.
IBM offered the first "real", non-proprietary internet access as a package with OS/2 Warp that got me into the internet. You could use the IAK (Internet Access Kit) that was the killer app of Warp and buy a monthly service through IBM network services (The "IBM Global Network"). If you were lucky to have a PoP near you, it was actually one of the cheaper options to get full unlimited internet access.
Before that, I was using Fidonet internet gateways for mail.
answered 2 hours ago
tofro
13.6k32877
edited 1 hour ago
answered 2 hours ago
tofro
13.6k32877
answered 2 hours ago
tofro
13.6k32877
answered 2 hours ago
tofro
13.6k32877
13.6k32877
add a comment |Â
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
In the UK, CompuServe, CIX, and Demon Internet were the most influential early ISPs, but there were plenty more, such as Dircon, Pipex and Freeserve.
AOL had customers, but was not terribly successful. The determination its UK marketing team had to make sure everyone got at least two AOL CDs every month was counter-productive, in that if you keep trying to force something that's free on the British, they'll assume it's worthless.
answered 1 hour ago
John Dallman
21315
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
In the UK, CompuServe, CIX, and Demon Internet were the most influential early ISPs, but there were plenty more, such as Dircon, Pipex and Freeserve.
AOL had customers, but was not terribly successful. The determination its UK marketing team had to make sure everyone got at least two AOL CDs every month was counter-productive, in that if you keep trying to force something that's free on the British, they'll assume it's worthless.
answered 1 hour ago
John Dallman
21315
add a comment |Â
up vote
1
down vote
up vote
1
down vote
In the UK, CompuServe, CIX, and Demon Internet were the most influential early ISPs, but there were plenty more, such as Dircon, Pipex and Freeserve.
AOL had customers, but was not terribly successful. The determination its UK marketing team had to make sure everyone got at least two AOL CDs every month was counter-productive, in that if you keep trying to force something that's free on the British, they'll assume it's worthless.
answered 1 hour ago
John Dallman
21315
In the UK, CompuServe, CIX, and Demon Internet were the most influential early ISPs, but there were plenty more, such as Dircon, Pipex and Freeserve.
AOL had customers, but was not terribly successful. The determination its UK marketing team had to make sure everyone got at least two AOL CDs every month was counter-productive, in that if you keep trying to force something that's free on the British, they'll assume it's worthless.
answered 1 hour ago
John Dallman
21315
answered 1 hour ago
John Dallman
21315
answered 1 hour ago
John Dallman
21315
answered 1 hour ago
John Dallman
21315
21315
add a comment |Â
add a comment |Â
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At some point the company changed its name from "America Online" to "AOL". This latter name was certainly used in the UK where AOL still has business today - so I conclude that for the UK, one equivalent of AOL was AOL
– dave
3 hours ago
1
In Japan 15-20 years ago, most people were online through their cell phones when North Americans used desktop computers. I believe much of Africa also uses cell phones for most Internet access.
– traal
3 hours ago
1
@traal well, 15 years ago is already when AOL started its way down. I think we can narrow down the era in question for somewhere between 1980 and 1995.
– Raffzahn
3 hours ago
@traal AOL's boom time was well before the cellphone.
– tofro
2 hours ago