this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2024
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UK centric view here, but there were a number of key points in the rollout of narrowband internet access here.
Freeserve was probably the biggest turning point - scrapping monthly subscription fees and just charging by the minute for local rate calls. In the era of CompuServe and AOL, that was a big shift.
Next up was probably a mix of BT Free Weekend - paying an extra tenner or so a month so access the internet on 0808 numbers (free at point of calling for non UK telephony nerds), then expanded to evenings and weekends for 2hr stints. That, or Xstream who allowed 1hr stints on a free number, where capacity allowed and so long as you used their dialler and banner software. It used to get royally hammered at 0001hrs on a Monday.
After that, there was nothing special until ADSL services swooped in and killed dial-up and ISDN services for all but hardened/secure line requirements.
It got to a point where calling someone's landline was next to pointless on the weekend unless you liked busy tones, but then this did coincide with the takeoff of 2G mobile telephony services so the next best thing to do was send a text message anyway.