Cost of Connection

The initial cost of the Internet connectivity to the individual user was made up of three components:

·                                                       Hardware (i.e. a modem) and software to run it;

·                                                       Phone call cost (where appropriate);

·                                                       Service provider cost.

In the early days of the Web, access in the UK was limited to 9,600 baud modems, which were very slow and page refreshing was a long and tedious process.

BT charged for calls at different rates during the day, there was a cheap rate after 18:00 and on weekends, a not so cheap rate after 13:00 until 18:00 and an expensive rate from 08:30 to 13:00. Service providers charged more or less what they wanted to meet market rates. This made the cost and accessibility of the Internet, and the Web specifically, an expensive hobby in the UK. Long downloads (i.e. Large files) were fraught with problems as line noise and line drop were constant concerns.

In America, local calls were free which stimulated rapid growth of Internet use.

Various other countries had different charging structures and so there is no real way of determining the true cost of connectivity over the period with any degree of accuracy.