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10 Things We Miss about Dial-up Internet that Kids Nowadays Won’t Understand

2016-07-28 , 11:21 am

Last Updated on 2022-05-18 , 1:56 pm

Those of us who have gone through the age of dial-up Internet, I consider us the lucky ones. We had the chance to see the Internet grow and advance through the ages and understand how good we have it now.

Here are 10 things we definitely miss about the dial-up.

1. It made us less complacent.

Logging onto the Internet back then wasn’t as easy.

Dial-up meant that we had to wait for the whirring sounds of the connection to go through and make sure the Internet was really connected before we could start browsing.

The whole process would usually last a minimum of 15 minutes, which really made us think twice about going online.

2. Dial-up meant only one device at a time.

If you remember, your dial-up meant it was connected to your landline too.

So, that means if you want to use the Internet, you cannot use your phone and vice versa.

Thinking of it now, it’s really quite funny that we had to shout over to whoever was using the phone to hang up so that you could continue using the Internet.

3. It kept us excited about connecting.

Remember the excitement we felt when we were waiting for the Internet to connect to log in to ICQ or IRC to hopefully get some online time with our crush, or even our secret boyfriend or girlfriend?

Yes, that heart-palpitating feeling you got when the Internet eventually connected and everything came online.

4. Dial-up was cheap.

Because it was connected to our phone lines, the cost wasn’t very high either.

5. It took forever to download stuff.

This may not sound like a good thing in a modern context, but it does bring back memories right now.

It probably took more than twice the time and if someone in the family decided to make a call halfway through, good luck.

6. Only one person could use it at a time.

Not just because it was connected to your landline, but also because there was probably only one computer to share amongst the whole family.

Anyway, it wasn’t like Wi-Fi, where we could use several devices with just one router.

7. Dial-up meant there were no Internet alternatives, even if smartphones had been invented back then.

You cannot connect your other devices to a dial-up, even if you had devices to do so.

8. There was a time restriction on using the Internet.

The usage time wasn’t decided by the computer, but by our parents usually.

Because of that, we really valued the time we had online and made sure we got the most out of it before we had to log off.

9. There was a way to control computer usage.

Our parents could actually easily change the password or remove the entire router to stop us from using the computer. It was frustrating but well, we were too young to say anything anyway.

10. That whirring, connecting sound.

And of course, that sound that let us know we were on our way to accessing the Internet.

It sounded like aliens were trying to make contact with us but that was the sweet, sweet sound that meant we were about to talk to that cute guy/girl very soon.

This article was first published on goodyfeed.com

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