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Oh, that $40 is the service cost. Even in '97 I remember paying £20/mo for the ISP, phone bills were then on top of that £20. Then "freeserve" came out[1] and

by eterm 13y ago

Oh, that $40 is the service cost. Even in '97 I remember paying £20/mo for the ISP, phone bills were then on top of that £20. Then "freeserve" came out[1] and (gasp!) was free apart from the phone call. This was a major shift. There were downsides (only 1 pop3 email account, no newsgroups, no webspace), but it was free! [1] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/177467.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/177467.stm

crusso 13y ago
Almost all residential POTS lines in the US were flat-rate, so there were no charges here to make a local phone call. Granted, if you had to dial long-distance to connect to the ISP, then you paid toll rates for that.
- eterm 13y ago
  Oh, thanks for the correction and local knowledge.