Another thing to keep in mind was how we accessed the internet: via telephone modems and landlines and WE PAID BY THE MINUTE for the phone use (as well as not being able to use the phone for other phone calls, unless you got a dedicated phone line) in addition to paying access fees (and hosting, if you wanted a website). And domain-registration alone was hundreds of dollars per domain name per year.

And you had to have an actual computer. I spent my first several years on the internet only having computer access at work (when I was in school, we didn't have personal computers at all. My college barely even had a computer center when I was there and we were still using public pay phones in the lobbies of the dorms for all our phone calls).