Anyone remember Prodigy Internet? :) (1 Viewer)

[DeathStar1]

My grandmother got it for me as a gift in 1993, and I've been on the net ever since. Just wondering if there are any others here from classic prodigy...

Also, anyone remember the Bulliten Boards in the TV section, back when the TV studios actually responded to fan notes? This was a great idea where all the studios where under one roof, even if the replies where short...

Too bad we can't have a section like that here where studios can reply to fan comments that's dedicated

 

[Linda Thompson]

I remember Prodigy, but I never belonged. My first internet experience was via Delphi (also 1993)...I still remember how cool it was spending all those dial-up hours downloading 1st-season X-Files episode trailers.

My next experience was GNN, and then I also tried AOL just to see what all the fuss was about. I ended up spending a couple of years as a "Community Leader" (online host) in AOL's Music Community. Then AOL bought out and swallowed GNN...and my then-humongous 20 MB GNN webspace allowance went down the drain.

By 1994, I had my EarthLink account, along with AOL's "Bring Your Own Access" plan, so at least I wasn't having to use AOL's grossly over-crowded modems to dial in anymore. I still have that original EarthLink account, only now it's broadband (installed and billed via Time-Warner cable).

I also tried MSN very briefly, just to check out their content offerings. Nothing special enough to warrant a membership.

I gave BellSouth and AT&T a whirl also (many years ago, as backup access in the event of EarthLink outages), but EarthLink was the best of all the regular ISPs (IMO, and for my own needs).

 

[Bryan X]

I remember Prodigy too but was not a member. I was a member of Compuserve if you remember that. I think Compuserve even predates Prodigy.

I remember dialing in on my 300 baud modem -- long distance. :b

 

[Justin Lane]

I was a Compuserve man back in the Windows 3.1 days. Kept that for awhile until an independent ISP popped up in my area. I used to frequent the Lucasarts board on Compuserve (when the company still made decent games on their own).

As computer use and the internet has grown, we have lost some of the community feel alot of these early ISPs fostered.



J

 

[Marty M]

My sister-in-law still has a prodigy email address. Apparently, they are part of the SBC/ATT/Yahoo conglomerate and she can still use that address with their DSL line.

 

[Paul D G]

Prodigy was the first service I tried. I was able to log on exactly once. I tried for two weeks to get logged on again and never could. Tried AOL. Still use it but it's not my ISP. I use it for email and there are some features we like so we keep it around.

-paul

 

[Parker Clack]

We started with Prodigy and then Delphi. CompuServe was another site that many of our members came over to us from. I remember a program that allowed you to download all the posts that had been made to your computer and then you could reply to those posts offline and upload them at a later time. With being given only so much time online with them for your monthly fee this was the only way to go.

Ron set himself up on Prodigy as sysop in the Movies Forum. We talked a lot about movies on VHS and Laserdisc back then. Then wwwthreads was written and we invited the membership of the Movies Forum to our own site. We had about 150 members then. We then moved to several different colo servers and crashed each one. Then with the help of member donations we built our own servers and moved to inet.com and from there to speedhost.com were we are now. The software for vBulletin was written for the author to use for his own site and thousands of members jumped on board.

I too stated out with Prodigy and Delphi over dial up at 300 baud using Windows 3.1. Who would have ever thought we would be here?

 

[Jay H]

I used to be a member of Compuserve BBS on a Commodore 64 I think. My friend had an Apple IIc with a 1200baud modem and he was like the "it" kid growing up... hahaha. And my other friend's father worked at Egghead Software and he had a Commodore PET... hahahahaha...

Jay

 

[DeathStar1]

Wow, didn't know this site and the two where so inter connected .. I had a 1200 speed modem that you actually had to turn on with a switch :0. I beleive we still have it in the basement, and after checking on ebay, I found that it goes for 70$', heh.

 

[Jay H]

Well Neil, I have a 56k modem at home, it's an external so yeah, it is still turned on by a switch.

All those familiar with Compuserve must be familiar with all the little dungeon BBSs and stuff that you could call and log into... Wow..

Anybody remember PETSCII?

Jay

 

[Gerald LaFrance]

I remeber Surfin the Internet back in 1983 with my Vic-20 and going to Compuserve, I remember reading thru that for Hours ahh the memories!!

 

[Alex-C]

former 1200 baud, comm 64, compuserve member here.
my email was numerical, remember that ?
11654.44329@compuserve.?
I've logged so many freaking hours on the net since then, my brain cant even come up with what compuserve looked like !?!?
It's all lost in a 13 year web fog...

 

[Joe S]

Never had Prodigy. I remember getting a 300 baud modem from Radio Shack and connecting it to my TI99/4A computer. I think I called some not-so-local BBSs. At some point in 1987(?) I signed up with Delphi, which I enjoyed until the Internet became more accessible.

Does anyone remember the "PC Pursuit" service? In the mid to late 80's Sprint offered a service to access a number of major cities after normal business hours (6pm to 6am) for about $25 per month. You could connect to a modem at one of these cities and dial up a BBS system there. Initially, there was no limit to connect time, but some people abused the service and remained connected to a particular location all night. They eventually imposed a monthly limit, I forget what it was.

 

[LarryDavenport]

I was a member of Prodigy. I still have the pennat I won for Fantasy Baseball in 1992.

 

[Sam Posten]

Heh, I was online when 300 baud was ROCKIN, especially if you didnt have to use one of those awful cups that clipped onto your phone! First real service I used was Quantumlink, I think some of their services were $6 an hour!!!

 

[Christ Reynolds]

i started with compuserve on windows 3.1, and the only thing i really remember doing is causing trouble on a local BBS.

CJ

 

[Bryan X]

Some things never change. :p)

 

[Scott Simonian]

I also started with Compuserve and Windows 3.1. Wow. Those were the days. I used to use it for cheat codes in the games I played. Geez. I was in elementary school then.

Soon after the days of 28.8 modems were the norm. AOL got really popular but I didn't fall for that shit back then, either.

Remember Netscape?

 

[Jay H]

Remember Netscape, I also remember Mosaic!

Jay

 

[Jon_Are]

Prodigy was my entry-level experience as well. I remember being absolutely amazed that you could go onto the information superhighway and get a weather forecast.

Anyone else remember when your Prodigy emails were limited in size to just a few "pages"?

And you were allowed to send 30 free emails a month, but anything more you were charged 50 cents an email?

Jon