There’s a song that goes something like, “I was country when country wasn’t cool.”  Well, to paraphrase, “I was an Internet provider before anyone really knew what the Internet was, including me.”  In late 1992, early 1993, Mark Foreman and I were working the bugs out of transitioning ”Pink’s Place” BBS (Mark was a fan of Pink Floyd) into what eventually became Public NetXchange, PNX, Internet service. 

Pink’s Place was the perfect vehicle to make the move from BBS to Internet.  How many of you remember the BBS connections?  Most of you have probably forgotten all the BBS services that were out there before the Internet went public.  There was Delphi, Compuserve and AOL to name a few.  Pink’s Place was never quite as big as AOL (that’s a joke…) but there were about 300 subscribers who were already savvy to being online and they were willing and ready as Pink’s gave way to PNX.  I was hooked on the Internet from day one and have used it everyday since.

In the early days all consumer connections to the Internet were limited to telephone dial-up access.  Most of what was viewable was text based.  For those of you who remember, it was almost like working in DOS.  This was BEFORE Internet Explorer.  PNX was the first local ISP (Internet Service Provider) in Orange, TX with local dial-up access to the Internet.  Those of you in Orange know that we have a screwy local calling area.  In order for Orange customers to access a national BBS like AOL, you had to call either Beaumont or Nederland, both of which were long distance.  Over the years, I heard plenty of horror stories from individuals who were surprised when they received telephone bills that were loaded up with long distance charges as a result of hour after hour of online web browsing via a long distance number.

Even though I didn’t personally pay for Internet service (one of the perks of owning the business) I was always conscience of our pricing.  I considered Internet to be a luxury and my business was actually competing for each customer’s disposable income.  I remember when PNX first came online we charged $30.00 per month or $300.00 per year for access, tax included.  Not too long after PNX became established  I was able to re-evaluate our expenses and actually lower our prices for Internet access from $30.00/month to $25.00/month.  There was one final price reduction about 1997 when the Texas Legislature exempted the first $25.00 per month for Internet access from sales tax.  Rather than hold the $25.00 per month charge ($23.20 + $1.80 sale tax) I choose to lower our monthly charge to $23.20 or $232.00 per year.

As our customer base grew, it was always a challenge for me to maintain a level of service that could meet the demand, or should I say the appetite, for Internet access.  I enjoyed the challenge to stay current with technology so that PNX could live on the cutting edge.  A big part of that challenge was to stay in constant contact with my vendors, those who sold products to me so that I could sell Internet to my customers.  One of my least favorite vendors to deal with was the phone company.  Very seldom did I contact them with a problem and they were cooperative.  The peak for PNX was 2000 – 2004.  During this period I was purchasing 300+ individual telephone lines per month from Southwestern Bell.  Those phone lines amounted to a total monthly charge in excess of $10,000.00 just to this one vendor.   I never asked for special treatment but if a customer were spending that kind of money with me on a monthly basis I would give them some special considerations.  For example, I’d personally handle their account.  If ever they called in, I’d give them my direct number so they would never have to “Press 1 for English.”  Not so with the phone company.

From the very beginning I was in awe of the Internet.  The information that was available was impressive but in the beginning, it was pretty similar to a library.  There was just so much to look at that you could be pulled in twenty different directions.  It was impressive but it wasn’t pretty.  I remember the early days after Internet Explorer was introduced things really got interesting.  One of the first web pages I can remember had to do with a prisoner who was executed and left his body to science.  What I recall is that they took his body and froze it and then literally sliced him up from head to toe and photographed each “slice” in order.  In viewing the web page, the animation would start at the top of the head and progress down through his body ending at his feet.  No it wasn’t bloody or gross, it was fascinating.  (If any of you happen to know that web site please mail it to me)  For the first time I realized the potential the Internet would bring to anyone hungry for knowledge.  Even today, with all its advances, I feel we haven’t even tapped its potential.

Another thing that fascinated me about the Internet from a business standpoint was how addictive it could be.  There were many times when customers would come in to pay for Internet that I knew they had to have sacrificed their rent or their grocery money to get one more month’s fix.  I swear people were paying for Internet before they paid their car note.  I remember a customer walking in the store one day with a cardboard sign he’d made hung around his neck that read: “Will Work for Internet Access.”

It was during the years 2000 – 2003 that the Big Boys, SBC & Time Warner, were developing and rolling out DSL and RoadRunner to the public.  Broadband Internet; DSL and RoadRunner (Time Warner) were working at breakneck speed to tap into the Internet market.  As their market reach began to grow, the exodus from dial-up began.  It’s ironic that I live in a neighborhood where dial-up was my only alternative.  To this day there is no DSL or RoadRunner available.  So, for all these years I’ve been on a dial-up connection at home.  I have an ISDN dial-up connection which is a digital connection and slightly faster than a standard phone line but it had it’s limitations.  However, for all these years it has served me well.

When I sold PNX in August of 2008, one of the terms of the sale was that I would have Internet access for 1 year.  Guess what…. that year ended September 30, 2009.  For the first time in my life starting October 1, 2009, I now have to PAY for Internet access.  (Well, I’ve always had to pay but my home service was paid through my business)  I now have to pay for monthly service out of my disposable income just like everyone else.  Ouch!  And guess what, just like all of you I now want something faster!

And I don’t know why it is but things do seem to come in cycles.  Along with my Internet access all these years another benefit I had was the fact that I had technicians on staff and they kept my personal computer tuned up and running smooth.  Guess what?  That all came crashing down last month also.  So not only did I finally run out of “free” Internet access but I also had to buy a new computer for the house.  Another hit on my disposable income.  Oh well, all good things come to an end.  I just wish they didn’t all crash and burn at the same time.