But for a surprising number of Americans, thebuzzy electronic jingle of dial-up modemsnever went away.
But for folks without that modem nostalgia, here’s a brief look at dial-up internet.
Related:Why Did Dial-Up Modems Make So Much Noise?
And even if streaming had existed, you’d have been out of luck actually using it.
Dial-up modems maxed out at 56 Kbps.
To put that in modern broadband terms, 56 Kbps is 0.056 Mbps.
By comparison, the FCC defines broadband as at least 25 Mbps—over 400 times faster than dialup.
Further—and this might be shocking younger readers—dial-up internet access was time-based.
Your monthly dial-up internet subscription was typically for X hours of connection time with your provider.
How Many Americans Are Still Using Dial-Up Internet?
But a surprising number of Americans still use dial-up internet out of necessity because of incomplete broadband market penetration.
By 2013, dial-up internet accounted for only around3% of internet users.
Dial-up internet usage has been below 1% since sometime in 2015.
Roughly8 million householdsuse some form of satellite internet.
And cellular expansion initiatives have made wireless internet more accessible.
