
Booking with a Computer (1992) - DanBC
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE2D7163EF931A25752C0A964958260&pagewanted=all
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DanBC
I'm posting this because it gives some insight into the online world in 1992.

It talks about a small number of Americans, about 6 million homes, with
computers and modems.

It also mentions the subscriber counts of two services:

> Compuserve, which says it has 903,000 subscribers; the Prodigy Services
> Company, which reports a million members

And the cost of going online at the time,, an eye-watering $12.80 per hour:

> Subscribers in major cities can tap into Compuserve or the other services by
> dialing a local telephone number, so there is no long distance toll, but
> Compuserve charges $12.80 an hour for connection time. In addition, O.A.G.
> assesses a surcharge of 17 cents to 47 cents a minute for using its service,
> depending on the time of day. (There is no additional fee for using
> Travelshopper or Eaasy Sabre.)

(OAG was the Official Airlines Guides Electronic Edition)

($12.80 in 1992 is about $20 today.)

~~~
brudgers
Back in 1992, I had a Compuserve account and remember carefully conserving my
initial free or bargain time over many months. In late 1993, I got an internet
account on NERDC at UF for $0.01 a minute at 9600 baud. Bought Kroll's book
[1] and eventually, one month I got a bill for $10.00.

[1]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_Internet_User%27s_Guide_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_Internet_User%27s_Guide_and_Catalog)

