28 Jun
2007
28 Jun
'07
3:09 p.m.
On 6/28/07, Ethan Dicks <ethan.dicks at gmail.com> wrote:
I still have my bought-new-in-1982 VIC modem that I
used to use to get
on CompuServe when I was in High School. There weren't any decent
Yep, probably about the same time I got mine. I was about 9 years
old, and the Vicmodem was intended to be a Christmas gift. I knew
where my parents kept it, and I used to sneak it out of the box and
call....what? I don't remember if I had found a BBS list by then.
The second big mistake my parents made was signing up for CompuServe
with the offer found in the VicModem box. Ohh the credit card bills
that followed! I don't know why I was ever allowed near a computer
again.
It was fun, but expensive. An off-the-cuff estimate
is that charges
for an hour then would equate in today's dollars to at least a month
of all-you-can-eat dial-up service now, or a substantial chunk of a
month's broadband service. One hour.
That's a good way to present it. I've tried explaining CIS per-hour
service to friends whose only contact with telecom tech has been a
cable modem, but they just can't grasp it. And then when you tell
them there were no pictures.....!
(OK, there were those RLE weather maps on CIS. At 300bps, even!)