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That was also the first commercial ISP (UUNet), correct me if wrong.
by textmode 10y ago
That was also the first commercial ISP (UUNet), correct me if wrong.
- sverige 10y agoAccording to Wikipedia, The World was the first commercial ISP in 1989. I do remember using MCIMail at a law firm around 1990-91 though, so they weren't far behind.
- textmode 10y agoLooking at the USENIX entry at the bottom of that Wikipedia page, "Spike" states that it was Alternet (UUNet) that connected The World to the internet in 1990. Also in the Slashdot interview he admits in 1989 they still were not on the internet. In 1989 the only internet connections I was aware of were via universities or government agencies. Maybe The World was offering copies of Usenet or mail forwarding prior to 1990, as were the people behind UUNet, but I would guess they must have first downloaded the bits from a university or government agency. Can a company provide "internet service" before it is connected to the internet? :)
- dboreham 10y agoI'm old enough to remember UUNet as the center of the universe and by curious circumstances I ended up having them as my ISP years later (around 1999/2000) when I moved to a place that only had ISDN as the high speed connectivity option. UUNet had a POP that was local call dialable for me, due to the phone company lacking ISDN capability on the local switch: they backhauled my circuit to a city 120 miles away and UUNet has colocation there. The lowest ping times I've had before or since!