1994: First Internet Experience

by Cecile Cinco

It was in 1994 when the internet was introduced to us by a programmer friend. (This friend is probably 53 by now.) At that time the top of the modem line is a 14.4kbps. My friend brought with him a 2.4kbps modem to lend to us. The internet was just starting to be graphic. ISPs are just a few and very expensive.

The 2.4kbps modem was very slow you can see the pixels crawl. I remember the search engine before was Webcrawler and Altavista. I learned to search by email, though, to save on internet time, which is very, very limited because of its very dear price. If not by email, I search using Lynx, a server-side program I invoke when I log in to the ISP. It is text-only search tool so I can be spared with the heavy graphics that eat up my internet time.

I became an infomaniac. I wanted all information and I want it quick. Going to any library is super slow so my 2.4kbps modem is real quick. To save on net time, I ’surf’ using email and I get images using email too. It is a rather long process, though. Images will arrive in codes which I have compile and when its done, the image is back to normal.

I remember The Internet Tourbus. Yes, they existed long ago and I just did a search now where they could be. They are still cool!

Since the internet was scarce still at that time, what was popular was the Bulletin Board Systems or BBS. There were hundreds in the Philippines and I regularly logged into ten everyday. I even had my own, the K@j.net BBS which was set up in 1996, if my memory serves me right.

Even at that time I learned to separate the true from the too-good-to-be-true.

The internet has been a habit.

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