The article about the great and positive influence of computers and the Internet describes how I relied on the Internet to educate and entertain me during the recent Covid lockdowns; this one covers my introduction to and first few years of using the Internet.
I became aware of the existence, function and possibilities of the Internet by degrees over some years; I was fortunate in that I was able to take my time when learning how to use it and to have several options when deciding where to use it.
I built up my usage slowly until the Internet became an essential part of my life, both personal and for work. This blog would not exist without the Internet for a start; I would not have had the great convenience of being able to do the bulk of the research and other tasks for my freelance assignments at home without the Internet either.
I first heard the name many years ago, when two computer engineers were talking about something called 'The Internet'. I didn't understand the significance of the facility; I thought that it was just for downloading software patches.
I was not very interested and soon forgot about it; life was very difficult at the time and I was fighting for survival on several fronts.
A year or so later, the company I was working for installed the Internet on all of its workstations. It had previously been available on just one terminal, a key one in the Press Office. The boss was worried about the cost of putting it onto many PCs; he was also afraid that people would spend time surfing instead of working. However, he soon relented as many people really needed it for their work. We were given email addresses, which were very useful. Personal usage was permitted, but we were asked to keep it to a minimum.
I cautiously tested the water, and as part of my job soon learned how to find information online. I also did some moderate and discreet personal browsing. As I slowly became aware of the possibilities of the World Wide Web and the large amount of interesting and useful information to be found online, I decided that I would have to find somewhere else to access the Internet: I wanted to do some intensive and extensive research.
I had not yet rejoined the Public Library after my long absence, so I didn't know about their free Internet access. Instead, I started to use Internet cafés or cybercafés as they were a very visible and convenient resource.
I had two of Stelios Haji-Ioannou's orange and white Easy Internet cafés close to where I lived, and I made good use of them. They offered high speed, low cost, 24-hour Internet access.
Under the business model, prices rose and fell according to demand; by going at a quiet time, I could get two hours of browsing for just 50p! Occasionally I was lucky enough to find a terminal that was still signed in and had some unused time.
The nearer of these two cafés was more convenient, but it was much smaller than the other one and it attracted gangs of thieves. I soon discovered that the other one gave more time and charged less, so it became my preferred branch.
There was less pressure to browse quickly and sparingly now that I was going online in my own time and at my own cost. I spent many hours investigating various topics and following up leads; I arranged a few short breaks and bought some books online.
However, while Internet cafés are fine for checking emails, general surfing and small tasks, I found them unsuitable for serious work: they were often noisy and distracting, and being surrounded by many strangers made me feel uncomfortable.
As always, after taking a step up, becoming accustomed to the new level and experiencing the pros and cons, I felt ready to move on. I started to think about getting Internet access at home. I would then be able to go online at any time of the day or night; I would be able to immerse myself in research without interruption or distraction, and I wouldn't need to keep a lookout for dangerous people!
In any case, the Easy option didn't last. Easy cafés started to close one by one. They may have been useful to me, not to mention to tourists and students, but they were a huge loss-making venture for Sir Stelios: he described them as being "the most expensive mistake of my career".
Just as the increasing number of washing machines at home greatly reduced the demand for launderettes, home PCs reduced the demand for Internet cafés. Later, free public WiFi and smartphones made them even more obsolete.
London's largest Easy café:
A look inside one of the Easy cafés that I used:
I looked at my options for accessing the Internet from home. I still had a landline at the time and I was on a very cheap British Telecom tariff, so Pay As You Go BT dial-up seemed the easiest and most straightforward way to get going.
I still remember the starter CD that BT sent all those years ago; it was similar to this one:
Amazing as it might seem to the Internet users of today, the service was not bad – for a while. There were fewer websites at the time, and they were much less complex than they are now. I stayed with dial-up Internet access for around two and a half years.
I restricted much of my usage to weekends as it was cheaper then. I had to be careful not to stay online for too long in case the cost disqualified me for the cheap tariff I was on, so I continued to do some Internet accessing at work. This helped to save time and money, and it provided increased speed and security. Very conveniently, personal use was more acceptable by that time, and I had several clients so could spread the load.
I was very happy with what I had, but, as always, after a sunny start the storm clouds started to gather. The dial-up service got slower and slower, deteriorating until it became almost unusable, and BT decided to phase out the tariff I was on. Once again, I had to investigate my options and make some decisions.
I feel very nostalgic when I remember the handshaking noises that I used to get when going online during the dial-up days. I am not the only one; this recording (which I tried and failed to embed) has had over 16 million views:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsNaR6FRuO0
A colleague recommended 3G mobile broadband. I knew nothing about it, so I decided to go to an Easy café and investigate. I discovered that the two branches closest to me had gone, but was able to find another one - now that one too no longer exists. After getting an idea of what mobile BB was about, I bought a dongle and a SIM card with a prepaid data allowance.
The starter kit I got was similar to this one:
I was very happy with the PAYG 3G mobile BB service. It was good to be able to watch YouTube videos at home for the first time. I bought a large number of pre-paid SIM cards over the years as I didn't like contracts, and I upgraded the dongle a few times. I continued to make use of other options to conserve my allowances, but I still did my most important Internet accessing from home.
I was always looking for good deals on the SIMs. On one occasion I found one for a service that used the 3G network for which the price seemed too good to be true. I emailed the seller, who wanted to know where I lived to see if the reception would be ok. He said that he had visited my block of flats in the past; he gave details of the balconies, so he really had been here!
I bought the SIM; it should have lasted for a few months but the service became inaccessible after just one week! Luckily, I managed to get my payment refunded. I also got cheated when a few SIMs contained no prepaid data allowances on them and the sellers didn't respond to emails; luckily again they were for the lowest GB allowances so I didn't lose much money.
I stayed with mobile broadband for around eight years. With hindsight, I should have looked for alternatives much sooner.
History eventually repeated itself: the good times didn't last. I was paying more and more for SIMs and getting less and less value for my money; a data allowance that was adequate for one month in the early days was soon used up very quickly.
The service went downhill and the speed was sometimes disappointing too. Once again, it was time to investigate other options.
I bought many SIM cards similar to this one over the years:
I had discovered free public WiFi during the dial-up days, but used it only for short sessions or as a last resort. Now came the time when I discarded the dongles and moved permanently to fast, unlimited WiFi at home.
I was out of the Stone Age at last.
