38 lines
1.6 KiB
Markdown
38 lines
1.6 KiB
Markdown
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---
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tags: [fleeting, modems, computer-history, internet, bulletin-boards]
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created: Monday, October 14, 2024
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---
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# cfbef1c4-95ea-4fd1-85b8-536492e45e31
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## _Early precursors to the commercial internet_
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Prior to the commercial internet and the advent of the web, there were services
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in the 1980s which allowed home computers to connect to limited public networks.
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Example services: checking one's bank balance, paying bills, transferring money,
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booking holidays.
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(Presumably, the services would be hosted on a providers'
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[mainframe](./Mainframe_computers.md) or mini-computer, which the consumer would
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access through something like time-sharing?)
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The mechanism of connection was via a modem. A device that connected to your
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phone's cradle. Digital signals from your home computer would be converted into
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sound signals ("tones") that would travel through the phone transmitter to a
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receiver at the service provider which you would "dial-up" beforehand.
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In the US the main provider was Micronet in the 1970s, which became Compuserve
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in the 1980s and eventually AOL in the 1990s. In the UK there was Prestel
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provided by BT, first introduced in 1971.
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These services had an expensive subscription model and consequently uptake was
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limited.
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In addition there were bulletin board systems (BBS), typically administrated by
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hobbyists. Their personal computers acted as servers that other users would
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dial-up to access. They permitted the sharing of news and messages and later
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chat-rooms for realtime communication. Some of the biggest BBSs later became the
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first ISPs.
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