were internet speeds really that bad back then?

[DeezzzzNutttzzzzGhost Crew]

i saw on some forum some guy in the netherlands
who waited i believe 1 or 2 days
it might have been 1 day
to download a song (about 18mb song [8min long])

now one can download that in less than min depending on your speed
i used to have the slowest internet and it would take 6min to download 18mb

[Minister of Truth]

speeds were measured in baud; they were as fast as teletype.

[Gordon]

You mean could speeds have been as slow as 300 bits per second? Over a dial-up, back in the '80s. You bet they were slow. I think that my first modem was rated for 1200 bps. That's right; bps. Not kbps or mbps.

[Redstone]

Back then the only practical (cost effective) way to go online was using an analog modem that used the landline to dial into and connect to networks. These modems operated within the voice frequencies of the landlines.

Modem speeds ranged from 300 bps up to 56 kbps.

It is also to note that before the Internet was commercialized, there was numerous Bulletin Board Systems. (BBS) Basically these were stand-alone systems with a phone bank that accepted modem calls for connectivity.

One used protocols such as XModem, YModem, and ZModem to transfer files. Downloading large files was often a nightmare since any interruption with the phone can kill the transfer and (unless you were using ZModem) resuming downloading was impossible.

[Boss]

Your ISP will sort things out for you.