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#TBTH: We look back at 20 years of Internet in the PH

In March 1994, the Philippines was first connected to the internet. twenty years hence, a lot has changed in the way we communicate, work, learn and make friends.

In this week’s edition of our #ThrowbackThursday, we go back and reminisce the things we used to do with the limited amount of connectivity that we had.

Yugatech 728x90 Reno7 Series

1) Email was a novelty. It was scarce and when available, you had to pay for it. Our school-issued email account had no visual interface (GUI) and we had to memorize how to use the Pine command to read and send emails. Our first commercial email was Yahoo and HotMail.

2) Netscape Navigator rocks! Before that, we had to use Lynx to check out the scores on NBA.com.

3) Google did not exist then. Yahoo! and AltaVista were our default pages. We did not search, but instead, scrolled thru directories to find new websites.

4) Those who dared creating their own website had to deal with Geocities or Angelfire.

5) You had to memorize your ICQ number if you want to chat with friends or just randomly find new ones to chat with. Do you still remember your ICQ number?

6) Want some MP3 with your chatroom? Try mIRC.

7) US Robotics might sound like a really high tech company right now but back then, it was the single most popular 64kbps dial-up modem of that time.

8) Ten years ago, a SmartBro connection (before PLDT bought Meridian Telekoms, Inc. and named it Smart Broadband Inc) would fetch as high as Php8,888 a month for a 128Kbps fixed wireless connection. That was already cheap considering an unlimited dial-up connection from big ISPs like MozCom can cost you over Php5,000 a month. And who could not forget the early morning promo of ISPBonanza that made me a nocturnal animal during my early days of blogging?

9) WAP is the only way to get internet to your phone. I remember getting charged Php50 by merely browsing the homepage of YugaTech in 2003 on my Nokia E51.

10) Friendster was the coolest, hottest website in town. It changed the way we “defined” who our friends are.

How about you? Do share with us what you remembered most about the early days of the internet in the Philippines.

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Avatar for Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

32 Responses

  1. Avatar for pandapipino pandapipino says:

    It’s been a while since I used my unlimited dial-up internet using AOL (America online) account. It was so frustrating dialing for an internet connection for 30mins or long hours, but when you get connected, you felt excited, but wait, there’s only one problem, when someone calls, you’ll get disconnected! :(

    Internet was not so popular before but file sharing existed in our community using a telephone line, BBS and Hyperterminal. I also lived during those mIRC days when dial-up modems are vulnerable to disconnection using Misoskian rocket (nuke). So many memories and so many to talk about during those times.

  2. Avatar for dags dags says:

    You know what, I really envy those folks who have lived from the early days of internet here in PH. You guys are real hardcore internet geeks!

  3. Avatar for Kobe67 Kobe67 says:

    I used bravenet for my free hosting and .tk domain way back 2002-2003. Di pa uso yung mga video sharing sites nuon. And halaka.tk for the great source 3gp scandals. :D

  4. Avatar for Mark U Mark U says:

    I had Yahoo Groups for every class, subject and project. I think i had around 150 yahoo grps acc. It just died after fb, dropbox, etc…

  5. Avatar for wew wew says:

    d ko naabutan ung nasa article,pero atleast naabutan ko pa ung dialup connection hahaha ung iconic na tunog habang nagcoconnect

  6. Avatar for Maui Maui says:

    EDSAMAIL… and oh that Kris Aquino Yahoo! audible “korek ka dyan!”

  7. Avatar for onat onat says:

    I miss the sound of the dial-up modem trying to establish connection. I know when the connection is successful just by listening to that distinct sound.

  8. Avatar for Alphere Alphere says:

    20 years ago we have 56kbps modems, today, we still have 56kbps broadbands. Nothing has changed.

  9. Avatar for none none says:

    naalala ko ang…

    walang kamatayang TUNOG ng modem pag kumokonek sa ISP..

    :rotflmao:

  10. Avatar for Vekou X Aitenshi Vekou X Aitenshi says:

    bongga na nun ang webpage mo pag madaming mga animated gifs.

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