Usenet – Let's Return to Public Spaces

Re:Usenet – Let's Return to Public Spaces by DanBC on Thursday February 13, 2020 @09:49AM (#22318101)

I think people do not appreciate just how expensive it was to get online.

In 1988 Compuserve (more than 250,000 subscribers) was charging $11 per hour, The Source charged $8 per hour, Delphi charged $6 per hour, and BIX was $9 per hour.

Eleven 1988 dollars would be about $23 today.

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Re:Usenet – Let's Return to Public Spaces by h2odragon on Thursday February 13, 2020 @10:43AM (#22318570)

Long distance rates to BBS's were nasty, too. Thus the joy in finding any and all ways to get free calls. In ... 1992? i think it was I had a provider that offered dialup shell access for $8/hr on an 800 number, and that was the best legitimate price around for a good while. I built people networks off that box.

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Re:Usenet – Let's Return to Public Spaces by ghaff on Thursday February 13, 2020 @03:54PM (#22321334)

And that included intra-state long distance which could actually be even higher than inter-state calls. For quite a while I used a subscription BBS in a relatively nearby city. Phone calls were still expensive and there were all sorts of tricks/tools to minimize the time you spent online. (e.g. software that let you download new messages on specific boards and read/reply offline.)

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