NetPoint celebrates its 15th year as an Internet Service Provider.

In January 1996, NetPoint became the first ISP in the area to offer unlimited dial up Internet access. Shortly afterwards, NetPoint was incorporated into Starpoint Communications, Inc.

NetPoint was also the first in the area to provide web hosting, web site design and deploy a broadband wireless network. 

Many people in 1996 thought the Internet might just be a fad, like CB radios.
Here is a look back at 1996:

 Screen shot of Windows 3.1 Internet software

  • A brand new 486 66Mhz system with 8 Megs of RAM, 15 inch CRT screen, 1 gig hard drive and a 14.4 kbps modem would cost you over $2,500.
  • The new 33.6k modem would cost you $200
  • In January 1996, most personal computers were still running windows 3.1
  • All the software you needed to use the Internet fit on a single floppy disk (1.2k)
  • Google, eBay, Amazon and spam were unheard of.
  • Sources estimate in January of 1996 there were less than 100,000 websites compared to 1.3 billion websites currently indexed by google.
  • The number of Internet users grew from 39 million in 1996 to over 1.9 billion in 2010. It is estimated that in less than a year, all public Internet Addresses (IPs) will be depleted.

 

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