My first internet connection was some generic 2400baud.I had software support for MNP 5, which probably claims speeds up to 9600 bps? {perfomance in the lab with pretty cooperative factors like noise when squirrels eat through the protective coatings, and then chew up the actual wire, and at least compromise the protection. Oh anyway tl;dr, I found a couple modem numbers that weren't listed in the company publications, of course. they suppported MNP5 on three dialup lines. All totally spoke IP and didn't require authentication accounts, (things were pretty new for them, I'think) so I'd periodically call the other numbers in the list an see if it was crowded. I mostly did that because it obviously meant for general use but some department or whatever had need.

So yeah, free 9600bps. at least people understood using words instead of having to slap the words on an image, which isn't so appealing, while the noise:signal ratio was the same, the total of each was much smaller. being concise was often perceived a too short an answer, of the go away kind. The slowest part was downloading the install cd images, and you had to make you weren't trying to use it for anything else even so, hah

I finally lucked out. had an employer who wanted everyone in operational duties to be able to respond faster in emergencies, and actually did it!

So then I graduated to...iDSL! yes, that's right, at the time I was too far from the box for regular DSL. So, yeah it cost more, around 150/month I think, maybe more, maybe less. but now I was up tp 128kbps bidirectional! okay, so it wasn't great for moving lots of data to my home resources, but it was enough to support the plenty of mail  coming through, including some mailing lists for personal interests. And of course, people would email porn. fortunately, postfix is quite good at noticing the gargantuan files, and if they don't work the first time, fall pretty fow down the priorities, so, i guess it worked since that was a very different time

Then I move to a new place in SF. for some reason I can't get anything telco-based to install, so I finally turned to Comcast, first Residential, Buisiness internet, which costs more for slower rates you probably can't count on get, but it'll be close. They've turned out to be a lot more clueful than the folks on the Residential service. Apparently, I got in at a good time, because as I said I need it for work and need fixed IP the VPN to autoconnect properly, asked me to list off the server roles for 5 addresses instead of just the one, so it was easy to justfity 5 instead of just getting the one fixed it. I believe they've gotten more stringent as IPv4 address, even small /29s So, it was cheap, why not try it? It turns out that comcast business is an entirely different organIzation.The SLA They have a 4 our onsite for someone to show up and say they need to order a part, they're often pretty prepared by incident I provided so have a guess where to look. There's a separate support number only business class customers are allowed to us, so which means threre' usually not much of a wait, if any. Because BC is presented as a complete package, the reason they make you rent whichever cablemodemrouterfirewall they've got their custom firmware on. If they can determine that it's your box, they'll make sure the truck has one. Of they need to be onside trouble shoot, they're quite competent at calling in what's needed, and most of what they'll have is where they're stationed.

For work internet connections, I've long since track. probably all ofthem, though i'd never be am exact who used what. I do recall one interview with a candidate, and he asked about our network topology for whatever reason. I happili obliged, 2Gb 

We in the US have gotten used to other many mountries ahead of us for gigabit to the home. We should do it, but in all honesty, having 57Mbps down and 12 up, I havent been found my bandwidth seems fine. Usually looks like either another exchange router had a problem and the remaining routes are sitll converging with the new reality of how to transit traffic. In fact, come to think of it, i've had exactly ONE ticket call for a railed router. The was wsa somewhere outsie.

ANyway, 57dn12up may not be enough for what you guys do on the internet with so much data may need, but it's still overkill for probably most of the customers who need time to figure out how to use the computer again. The main reason for increased capactiy all they way to plugs on the wall and some kind of WiFI in there someone

Oh, as long giving kudos to comcast business, for those with a lot of traffic to comcast users, their peering rates are much more affordable. That's probably becase they get to make money on both ends of the traffic. since they've already got networks spread out to do their stuff peering, so worthwhile.They're nice guys to work with, too

And of course, there is the fact that traffic will always grow to exceed capacity