Oh, Christ.
I remember when I first logged onto Compuserv with a 300 baud modem. A 300 baud simplex modem. This means you flipped a switch between send and receive.
No, I'm not THAT old.. I just didn't have money for good gear. I had a VIC-20 and got a VicModem in, uh... 1990ish. Took about 3 hours to find out they had all but entirely phased out support, and the comms software I loaded from tape ate itself. That ended up costing like $80.
When I lived in SFBA, I was spending almost $500/mo for internet. I had 218k SDSL with a /27, and a cablemodem. Then, of course, the cost of electricity.. hoboy.
I'm much better now. Really. Wanna toggle my simplex switch, baby?