1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,080 --> 00:00:14,800 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:15,040 --> 00:00:18,160 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio, 4 00:00:18,239 --> 00:00:21,560 Speaker 1: and I love all things tech and I thought today 5 00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:24,520 Speaker 1: we could talk about a tech company that has its 6 00:00:24,520 --> 00:00:29,920 Speaker 1: headquarters in my hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, though that's not 7 00:00:30,080 --> 00:00:33,120 Speaker 1: where our story will begin. And it's a company that, 8 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:36,360 Speaker 1: for the first few years of its existence, made customers 9 00:00:36,640 --> 00:01:00,200 Speaker 1: get cozy with the following sound. Yep, that's the sound 10 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:04,160 Speaker 1: of a dial up modem making a connection with another modem. 11 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:07,640 Speaker 1: And the company is earth Link, which is very much 12 00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:10,920 Speaker 1: an active company today, though that might surprise some of 13 00:01:10,959 --> 00:01:13,120 Speaker 1: you who might think that it had its heyday and 14 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:17,200 Speaker 1: then just faded into obscurity. Nope, it's still here. I 15 00:01:17,240 --> 00:01:20,280 Speaker 1: passed the building sometimes here in Atlanta. So we're going 16 00:01:20,319 --> 00:01:22,800 Speaker 1: to learn about the history of earth Link, what the 17 00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:25,320 Speaker 1: company does, and we're gonna learn a bit about how 18 00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:27,960 Speaker 1: the Internet works and dial up modems as well, because heck, 19 00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:31,080 Speaker 1: this is tech stuff. Also because we're covering so much stuff, 20 00:01:31,400 --> 00:01:34,480 Speaker 1: we're looking at a couple of episodes here, my favorite, 21 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:37,320 Speaker 1: but to tell the story of earth Link will also 22 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:40,240 Speaker 1: have to dive into a lot of other stuff to 23 00:01:40,240 --> 00:01:42,920 Speaker 1: to really understand what's going on. So we're going to have, 24 00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:45,120 Speaker 1: like I said, a refresher on how the Internet works 25 00:01:45,160 --> 00:01:48,120 Speaker 1: from a structural standpoint. I'm not going to get into 26 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:51,960 Speaker 1: protocols or any of that, but more of a high 27 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:54,960 Speaker 1: level look at how the Internet works. And we're going 28 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:58,520 Speaker 1: to understand what Internet service providers do and why they're 29 00:01:58,520 --> 00:02:01,920 Speaker 1: a necessity for the vast majority of us. And we'll 30 00:02:01,960 --> 00:02:04,840 Speaker 1: also learn about a company that competed with earth Link 31 00:02:04,920 --> 00:02:07,760 Speaker 1: early on and why that company is the reason that 32 00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:11,840 Speaker 1: earth Link has its HQ in Atlanta. So this might take, 33 00:02:11,919 --> 00:02:13,240 Speaker 1: you know, like I said, a couple of episodes to 34 00:02:13,240 --> 00:02:15,040 Speaker 1: cover everything, but it's a great way to learn about 35 00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:19,040 Speaker 1: the Internet in general and the gradual shift to broadband 36 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:22,840 Speaker 1: methods of connecting to the Internet. Now, our story begins 37 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:27,720 Speaker 1: in the nineteen seventies with a fellow named Sky Dylan Dayton. 38 00:02:28,280 --> 00:02:30,440 Speaker 1: I was going to make a Sky is the Limit 39 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:34,160 Speaker 1: joke here, but if you do even a cursory Internet 40 00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:37,120 Speaker 1: search for Sky Dayton and that's d A Y T 41 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:39,880 Speaker 1: O N, you will see that I have been beaten 42 00:02:39,880 --> 00:02:44,440 Speaker 1: by the punch by hang on. Let me check my notes. Um, yeah, 43 00:02:44,680 --> 00:02:48,119 Speaker 1: looks like everybody, So I'm gonna spare you and Mr 44 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:52,640 Speaker 1: Dayton the hacky pun this time. Dayton was born in 45 00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:57,040 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy one in New York City. His family relocated 46 00:02:57,160 --> 00:03:00,120 Speaker 1: to Los Angeles when he was a bebe and his 47 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:04,000 Speaker 1: parents were both artists. His father, Wendell Dayton, was a 48 00:03:04,040 --> 00:03:08,640 Speaker 1: sculptor and his mother, Alice DeWitt, was a musician poet. 49 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:13,840 Speaker 1: Alice's father, David DeWitt, was an IBM fellow and appointed 50 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:18,520 Speaker 1: position with an IBM that marks distinguished achievement at the company. 51 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:23,480 Speaker 1: And so now we begin our tale. Sky's parents relocated 52 00:03:23,480 --> 00:03:26,359 Speaker 1: from New York to Los Angeles in nineteen seventy two, 53 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:29,760 Speaker 1: and they would divorce in nineteen seventy five, and they 54 00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:34,120 Speaker 1: shared custody of young Sky. Wendell Dayton took on jobs 55 00:03:34,160 --> 00:03:37,520 Speaker 1: as a carpenter to earn money for Sky's education. And 56 00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:41,520 Speaker 1: side note, Wendell's story is actually a pretty incredible one. 57 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:46,040 Speaker 1: He made really interesting sculptures that were reflective of his 58 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:48,160 Speaker 1: time in New York City. They kind of grew out 59 00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:50,680 Speaker 1: of artistic movements that were prevalent in New York City 60 00:03:50,680 --> 00:03:55,400 Speaker 1: in the seventies. And late sixties, but that unfortunately meant 61 00:03:55,480 --> 00:03:58,160 Speaker 1: that they didn't really mesh with the artistic movements that 62 00:03:58,200 --> 00:04:01,560 Speaker 1: were prevalent in Los Angeles. There was a different kind 63 00:04:01,600 --> 00:04:06,680 Speaker 1: of artistic philosophy in that part of the country. In addition, 64 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:10,400 Speaker 1: Wendell really hated submitting his art to galleries. He was 65 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:13,200 Speaker 1: reluctant to do it. It caused him a lot of anxiety, 66 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:17,680 Speaker 1: so he largely went unrecognized for his work until he 67 00:04:17,760 --> 00:04:21,680 Speaker 1: got a big break in when he was eighty years 68 00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:25,520 Speaker 1: old and a gallery held an exhibit that showed off 69 00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:28,719 Speaker 1: his work from like six decades of his sculpture. He 70 00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:33,200 Speaker 1: passed away in twenty nineteen. I can't find much information 71 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:36,520 Speaker 1: about Alice DeWitt, which really is a shame. I find 72 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:39,599 Speaker 1: references to her being a poet and a dancer in 73 00:04:39,640 --> 00:04:42,080 Speaker 1: addition to being a musician, but it's hard to track 74 00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:45,479 Speaker 1: down specifics, and it's quite possible that I'm just looking 75 00:04:45,480 --> 00:04:48,000 Speaker 1: in the wrong places. But I find it's sad that 76 00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:51,400 Speaker 1: I can't find out much about her as opposed to 77 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:55,240 Speaker 1: finding full articles about Wendel. As for David DeWitt, it's 78 00:04:55,279 --> 00:04:57,920 Speaker 1: important to note this is not the same David DeWitt 79 00:04:57,960 --> 00:05:00,560 Speaker 1: who is a pioneer with database technology Ease and is 80 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:04,520 Speaker 1: a technical fellow with Microsoft. The David DeWitt and Sky's 81 00:05:04,560 --> 00:05:07,880 Speaker 1: family became an IBM fellow in nineteen seventy, and that 82 00:05:07,920 --> 00:05:11,760 Speaker 1: timeline just doesn't work out with the Microsoft technical fellow 83 00:05:11,839 --> 00:05:15,479 Speaker 1: David DeWitt, who got his PhD in the mid seventies. 84 00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:19,240 Speaker 1: I can't find much more information about David DeWitt, but 85 00:05:19,279 --> 00:05:22,200 Speaker 1: I know that Sky Dayton has written about visiting his 86 00:05:22,279 --> 00:05:26,240 Speaker 1: grandfather's office in Palo Alto, California as a child and 87 00:05:26,279 --> 00:05:30,640 Speaker 1: being introduced to technology around that time. Not long after 88 00:05:30,680 --> 00:05:33,719 Speaker 1: that visit with his grandfather, Sky got his first computer, 89 00:05:33,920 --> 00:05:37,520 Speaker 1: which was a Sinclair z X eight e one. These 90 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:41,320 Speaker 1: computers came from Dundee, Scotland, and they were made by 91 00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:45,640 Speaker 1: time X, the watch company. Sky was nine years old 92 00:05:45,640 --> 00:05:48,000 Speaker 1: at the time, so that puts the set around nineteen 93 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:51,000 Speaker 1: eighty and honestly, I'm kind of shocked that that was 94 00:05:51,040 --> 00:05:53,440 Speaker 1: his first computer. I would have pegged it as an 95 00:05:53,480 --> 00:05:57,960 Speaker 1: Apple too, being out of California in the early eighties, 96 00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:00,120 Speaker 1: that would have been the right kind of timing that 97 00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:03,080 Speaker 1: to be the first computer, especially since the Sinclair computers 98 00:06:03,080 --> 00:06:05,839 Speaker 1: were not nearly as well known here in the States 99 00:06:05,839 --> 00:06:09,080 Speaker 1: as they were in Europe. Anyway, back to our story. 100 00:06:09,480 --> 00:06:12,800 Speaker 1: At some point in his childhood, Sky's parents enrolled him 101 00:06:12,839 --> 00:06:16,280 Speaker 1: in the Delphian School, which is a private boarding school 102 00:06:16,320 --> 00:06:21,560 Speaker 1: in Oregon. The school covers grades kindergarten through twelve, and 103 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:25,760 Speaker 1: they had fewer than three hundred students, so the students 104 00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:29,520 Speaker 1: would actually live at the school and go to school 105 00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:32,880 Speaker 1: and stay there. And the school doesn't follow the same 106 00:06:32,880 --> 00:06:35,560 Speaker 1: sort of curricula and structure as public schools in the 107 00:06:35,600 --> 00:06:38,760 Speaker 1: United States. From what I understand, it seems like students 108 00:06:39,080 --> 00:06:42,440 Speaker 1: really stay on a subject until they have shown an 109 00:06:42,520 --> 00:06:46,520 Speaker 1: understanding and mastery of that subject, rather than having to 110 00:06:46,600 --> 00:06:50,280 Speaker 1: move on at a set time. So, for example, if 111 00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:54,479 Speaker 1: you were particularly strong in the field of algebra, you 112 00:06:54,600 --> 00:06:58,960 Speaker 1: might complete that course before a school year is up 113 00:06:59,360 --> 00:07:01,880 Speaker 1: and then move on to the next course in mathematics 114 00:07:02,600 --> 00:07:06,640 Speaker 1: or flip wise, if you found it particularly challenging, you 115 00:07:06,760 --> 00:07:09,800 Speaker 1: might just stick with algebra a little bit longer in 116 00:07:09,880 --> 00:07:12,600 Speaker 1: order to reach that level of understanding. There wasn't like 117 00:07:13,120 --> 00:07:17,400 Speaker 1: at this arbitrary date you must move on or be 118 00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:21,160 Speaker 1: held back. Sky Dayton graduated from the Delphian School in 119 00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:25,240 Speaker 1: nine and rather than apply to college, he decided to 120 00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:30,120 Speaker 1: strike out into business, and one early entrepreneurial endeavor was 121 00:07:30,360 --> 00:07:33,200 Speaker 1: a coffee shop and art gallery that he co founded 122 00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:36,680 Speaker 1: with a friend. The name of the shop was Cafe Mocha. 123 00:07:36,920 --> 00:07:41,000 Speaker 1: In nineteen two, Dayton would co found another business with 124 00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:44,160 Speaker 1: a friend, a different friend, and this business was a 125 00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:48,320 Speaker 1: design company that created graphics and layouts for advertising campaigns, 126 00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:52,680 Speaker 1: and it was called Dayton Slash Walker Design. But something 127 00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:57,600 Speaker 1: else was starting to consume Sky's attention. See Sky wanted 128 00:07:57,640 --> 00:08:00,680 Speaker 1: to connect to the Internet. In the nineteen eighties, there 129 00:08:00,800 --> 00:08:04,520 Speaker 1: was a growing culture of bulletin board systems or bbs is. 130 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:08,280 Speaker 1: And this is not Internet, but it's similar, And here's 131 00:08:08,320 --> 00:08:10,400 Speaker 1: how they would work. Someone would set up a computer 132 00:08:10,640 --> 00:08:14,560 Speaker 1: to act as a bulletin board, to host the bulletin board, 133 00:08:15,000 --> 00:08:17,800 Speaker 1: and it was kind of like a web server, except 134 00:08:17,800 --> 00:08:21,760 Speaker 1: this approach had a computer standing as its own little island, 135 00:08:22,080 --> 00:08:24,600 Speaker 1: and it would host stuff like message boards and maybe 136 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:27,720 Speaker 1: some files. And the bbs would have a specific phone 137 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:31,240 Speaker 1: number associated with it, or maybe a small bank of 138 00:08:31,320 --> 00:08:34,920 Speaker 1: phone numbers, and that would allow people to dial directly 139 00:08:35,040 --> 00:08:37,280 Speaker 1: into the computer. So there are no other connections here. 140 00:08:37,320 --> 00:08:40,840 Speaker 1: It's computer to computer connections. And computer owners with a 141 00:08:40,880 --> 00:08:44,040 Speaker 1: dial up modem would use their modem to call the 142 00:08:44,120 --> 00:08:47,000 Speaker 1: BBS number. I'll get into the process of what happens 143 00:08:47,000 --> 00:08:49,480 Speaker 1: with dial up modems a little bit later in this episode, 144 00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:52,640 Speaker 1: but essentially what happens is that the user and the 145 00:08:52,679 --> 00:08:55,320 Speaker 1: BBS computer connect to each other and then they can 146 00:08:55,360 --> 00:08:59,520 Speaker 1: interact with the actual stuff that's on the BBS. By 147 00:08:59,559 --> 00:09:02,120 Speaker 1: the early nine nineties, we were starting to see this 148 00:09:02,200 --> 00:09:07,240 Speaker 1: transition into actual Internet services. The Internet had already been 149 00:09:07,280 --> 00:09:10,680 Speaker 1: a thing for a while, but only a small percentage 150 00:09:10,679 --> 00:09:13,360 Speaker 1: of folks in the general population even knew about it. 151 00:09:13,360 --> 00:09:17,640 Speaker 1: It was largely the domain no pun intended of academia 152 00:09:17,920 --> 00:09:21,080 Speaker 1: and some research facilities, and then a few government divisions, 153 00:09:21,120 --> 00:09:25,880 Speaker 1: particularly the military. And keep in mind that is when 154 00:09:25,920 --> 00:09:29,960 Speaker 1: Tim berners Lee would really start working on the earliest 155 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:34,280 Speaker 1: web pages. Is typically when people say that he built 156 00:09:34,280 --> 00:09:38,160 Speaker 1: the first one. So this is really pre Worldwide Web 157 00:09:38,440 --> 00:09:41,720 Speaker 1: that hadn't really taken off yet. Rather than connect to 158 00:09:41,800 --> 00:09:44,280 Speaker 1: the Worldwide Web, people were using the Internet to do 159 00:09:44,320 --> 00:09:48,480 Speaker 1: stuff like send emails or use FTP as in File 160 00:09:48,600 --> 00:09:51,839 Speaker 1: Transfer Protocol, or maybe use tell net, which is a 161 00:09:51,880 --> 00:09:55,319 Speaker 1: way to create a virtual terminal connection between multiple machines 162 00:09:55,360 --> 00:09:59,080 Speaker 1: for the purposes of text based communication. The main method 163 00:09:59,120 --> 00:10:03,080 Speaker 1: of connecting to theseervices was through dial up modems, but 164 00:10:03,120 --> 00:10:06,720 Speaker 1: the process of connecting wasn't always a smooth one. The 165 00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:12,040 Speaker 1: early online service providers and Internet service providers were essentially 166 00:10:12,040 --> 00:10:14,360 Speaker 1: working out the bugs in the system, and it often 167 00:10:14,360 --> 00:10:16,560 Speaker 1: meant that it could take a long time to connect, 168 00:10:17,080 --> 00:10:20,640 Speaker 1: or connections would drop, or sometimes you would lose stuff 169 00:10:20,640 --> 00:10:25,120 Speaker 1: in mid transfer. Online service providers like America Online, Prodigy, 170 00:10:25,120 --> 00:10:28,600 Speaker 1: and compu Serve would allow users to access a suite 171 00:10:28,760 --> 00:10:32,599 Speaker 1: of services and features that were contained within those services, 172 00:10:33,080 --> 00:10:36,160 Speaker 1: but they had little or sometimes no access to the 173 00:10:36,200 --> 00:10:38,840 Speaker 1: Internet at large, So it's more like logging into a 174 00:10:38,880 --> 00:10:42,400 Speaker 1: glorified bulletin board system, a big one, but one that 175 00:10:42,520 --> 00:10:45,160 Speaker 1: still had barriers, and it usually meant that if you 176 00:10:45,200 --> 00:10:47,800 Speaker 1: were a customer of one and your buddy was a 177 00:10:47,800 --> 00:10:50,840 Speaker 1: customer of another one, you couldn't send messages to each 178 00:10:50,880 --> 00:10:55,079 Speaker 1: other because you were confined by the barriers of that service. 179 00:10:55,760 --> 00:10:59,000 Speaker 1: Internet service providers, which gave access to the Internet at 180 00:10:59,080 --> 00:11:03,600 Speaker 1: large were not that common yet. Then there was the 181 00:11:03,640 --> 00:11:06,719 Speaker 1: world widely recognized as the first commercial I s P. 182 00:11:07,200 --> 00:11:10,720 Speaker 1: Not universally recognized as such, but there are a lot 183 00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:13,000 Speaker 1: of people who argue it was and that launched in 184 00:11:14,040 --> 00:11:16,080 Speaker 1: There were a couple of others, but they were pretty 185 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:19,720 Speaker 1: limited and Sky Dayton found the experience of connecting to 186 00:11:19,760 --> 00:11:23,000 Speaker 1: the Internet really irritating, and to make matters worse, the 187 00:11:23,040 --> 00:11:26,679 Speaker 1: company he was using didn't have a good customer service department. 188 00:11:27,559 --> 00:11:30,760 Speaker 1: This kind of got the wheels turning in Sky's head. 189 00:11:30,880 --> 00:11:35,440 Speaker 1: Right around nine, he started thinking about launching his own 190 00:11:35,520 --> 00:11:39,760 Speaker 1: Internet service provider company, and he wanted to have more 191 00:11:39,760 --> 00:11:42,679 Speaker 1: of a focus on customer service. I think it's pretty 192 00:11:42,679 --> 00:11:46,000 Speaker 1: obvious to say that creating an I s P is 193 00:11:46,040 --> 00:11:48,720 Speaker 1: not a small endeavor. It's a big, big challenge. So 194 00:11:48,840 --> 00:11:52,080 Speaker 1: Dayton sought out investors to help fund his venture, and 195 00:11:52,160 --> 00:11:55,240 Speaker 1: he secured one thousand dollars from a pair of them, 196 00:11:55,360 --> 00:11:59,600 Speaker 1: Kevin O'Donnell and Read Slatkin, in the process. O'Donnell still 197 00:11:59,679 --> 00:12:05,359 Speaker 1: heads major investment initiatives to this day, working with Adam Street. Slatkin, 198 00:12:05,600 --> 00:12:09,720 Speaker 1: who passed away in became infamous for running one of 199 00:12:09,760 --> 00:12:13,840 Speaker 1: the largest Ponzi schemes in history. Now, if you are 200 00:12:13,880 --> 00:12:16,679 Speaker 1: not familiar with that term, a Ponzi scheme is a 201 00:12:16,720 --> 00:12:20,240 Speaker 1: way of perpetuating a cycle of investments that is in 202 00:12:20,280 --> 00:12:23,280 Speaker 1: the long run unsustainable, And I'll give you a very 203 00:12:23,400 --> 00:12:27,240 Speaker 1: high level rundown on how it works. So let's say 204 00:12:27,320 --> 00:12:31,120 Speaker 1: you're running an investment fund and you raise one thousand 205 00:12:31,200 --> 00:12:35,200 Speaker 1: dollars from an initial round of investors using some sort 206 00:12:35,240 --> 00:12:38,280 Speaker 1: of scheme. Doesn't matter what the scheme is, doesn't matter 207 00:12:38,320 --> 00:12:41,720 Speaker 1: what you're telling people they're investing in. Maybe you've told 208 00:12:41,720 --> 00:12:44,439 Speaker 1: everyone you're gonna sell marching band equipment to small towns 209 00:12:44,480 --> 00:12:47,320 Speaker 1: in the Midwest. But you've got your initial investment of 210 00:12:47,360 --> 00:12:49,719 Speaker 1: one hundred thousand dollars and you start living high off 211 00:12:49,720 --> 00:12:53,520 Speaker 1: the hog. You're spending money, but investors expect a return 212 00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:56,600 Speaker 1: on the investments they put in, meaning you now have 213 00:12:56,640 --> 00:12:59,800 Speaker 1: an obligation to try and not just pay them back, 214 00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:03,560 Speaker 1: but pay them back on top of their investment to 215 00:13:03,600 --> 00:13:06,720 Speaker 1: give them a profit, or at least make a payment 216 00:13:06,880 --> 00:13:10,640 Speaker 1: to those investors. Except your whole scheme is faulty, either 217 00:13:10,800 --> 00:13:14,480 Speaker 1: on purpose or just by circumstance. So instead you hold 218 00:13:14,520 --> 00:13:17,600 Speaker 1: a second round of investments. Let's say this time you're 219 00:13:17,640 --> 00:13:21,120 Speaker 1: asking for two hundred thousand dollars, and you use some 220 00:13:21,360 --> 00:13:25,079 Speaker 1: of that two dollars to pay off at least part 221 00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:27,400 Speaker 1: of your first round of investors to kind of get 222 00:13:27,440 --> 00:13:30,720 Speaker 1: them off your back. Meanwhile, you keep living high on 223 00:13:30,800 --> 00:13:33,400 Speaker 1: the hog. You're still spending lots of money. But hey, 224 00:13:33,679 --> 00:13:37,280 Speaker 1: now you owe money to that second round of investors, 225 00:13:37,400 --> 00:13:40,320 Speaker 1: and potentially you still owe some money to the first round. 226 00:13:40,679 --> 00:13:43,320 Speaker 1: So then you hold another round of investment, this time 227 00:13:43,360 --> 00:13:46,320 Speaker 1: maybe for a million dollars, and so on and so forth. 228 00:13:46,360 --> 00:13:49,240 Speaker 1: And as you see, the scheme tends to get bigger 229 00:13:49,320 --> 00:13:52,640 Speaker 1: over time, and eventually you hit a point where you're 230 00:13:52,720 --> 00:13:54,760 Speaker 1: just not going to be able to keep up with it, 231 00:13:54,840 --> 00:13:58,199 Speaker 1: and it all comes crashing down. Now. To really learn 232 00:13:58,320 --> 00:14:02,000 Speaker 1: about this scheme and why it's called a Ponzi scheme, 233 00:14:02,360 --> 00:14:05,920 Speaker 1: I highly recommend you check out a classic Stuff you 234 00:14:05,920 --> 00:14:10,560 Speaker 1: Should Know episode titled How Ponzi Schemes Work. It published 235 00:14:10,559 --> 00:14:13,839 Speaker 1: originally way back in two thousand nine. It is a 236 00:14:13,880 --> 00:14:18,480 Speaker 1: fantastic episode. Slatkin was running one of the biggest Ponzi 237 00:14:18,559 --> 00:14:22,200 Speaker 1: schemes in history, and many of his victims were celebrities. 238 00:14:22,520 --> 00:14:26,520 Speaker 1: Slatkin was also a member of the Church of Scientology, 239 00:14:26,560 --> 00:14:30,080 Speaker 1: with more than a few of his marks his targets 240 00:14:30,120 --> 00:14:34,120 Speaker 1: also being fellow members. But hey, members of Scientology were 241 00:14:34,240 --> 00:14:37,880 Speaker 1: used to handing over enormous amounts of cash to someone else. 242 00:14:39,520 --> 00:14:42,400 Speaker 1: Not to learn more about that, I recommend checking out 243 00:14:42,400 --> 00:14:47,960 Speaker 1: the podcast Scientology Fair Game. It's incredibly well done and 244 00:14:48,000 --> 00:14:51,280 Speaker 1: also just a trigger warning, has a lot of really 245 00:14:51,720 --> 00:14:56,120 Speaker 1: upsetting stuff in it. Slatkin had been part of Scientology 246 00:14:56,240 --> 00:15:00,960 Speaker 1: since the nineteen seventies, so in retrospect, slat kins involvement 247 00:15:01,240 --> 00:15:03,720 Speaker 1: with the early days of earth Link is kind of 248 00:15:03,760 --> 00:15:07,440 Speaker 1: a shameful past sort of thing, though I suspect at 249 00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:10,760 Speaker 1: the time no one really knew about this particular m 250 00:15:10,760 --> 00:15:13,920 Speaker 1: O of his. He wasn't found out and prosecuted by 251 00:15:13,920 --> 00:15:18,080 Speaker 1: the U S Securities and Exchange Commission or SEC until 252 00:15:18,160 --> 00:15:22,800 Speaker 1: two thousand one, and whether earned honestly or through deception, 253 00:15:22,880 --> 00:15:25,840 Speaker 1: slat can put forward some of the seed money that 254 00:15:25,960 --> 00:15:30,240 Speaker 1: Dayton needed to get things moving. Dayton would start earth 255 00:15:30,280 --> 00:15:34,640 Speaker 1: Link in California. Now. According to Wired, the company initially 256 00:15:34,640 --> 00:15:37,640 Speaker 1: offered connections to the Internet at large through one of 257 00:15:37,640 --> 00:15:42,560 Speaker 1: its ten modems. That's one zero, That's all he had. 258 00:15:42,920 --> 00:15:47,400 Speaker 1: This was inherently different from online service providers like Prodigy 259 00:15:47,560 --> 00:15:50,440 Speaker 1: or a o L which, again we're mostly confining you 260 00:15:50,560 --> 00:15:54,280 Speaker 1: to the OSPs own self contained network. One of the 261 00:15:54,320 --> 00:15:57,000 Speaker 1: big limitations of those OSPs, as I mentioned, is that 262 00:15:57,680 --> 00:16:00,960 Speaker 1: you couldn't communicate between two of them to Typically there 263 00:16:00,960 --> 00:16:04,040 Speaker 1: were some that would make arrangements with one another, but 264 00:16:04,200 --> 00:16:07,640 Speaker 1: it meant that they had limited utility unless everyone you 265 00:16:07,720 --> 00:16:11,000 Speaker 1: knew happened to be on the same osp The Internet 266 00:16:11,040 --> 00:16:13,640 Speaker 1: really offered up a new opportunity to connect people and 267 00:16:13,720 --> 00:16:18,040 Speaker 1: services no matter what network they were on, assuming that 268 00:16:18,120 --> 00:16:21,360 Speaker 1: network was in turn connected to the Internet itself and 269 00:16:21,520 --> 00:16:25,920 Speaker 1: wasn't restricting access. That promise of the Internet, that ability 270 00:16:26,040 --> 00:16:31,000 Speaker 1: to connect to practically limitless people and services, would become 271 00:16:31,040 --> 00:16:34,360 Speaker 1: a driving force for development in the nineteen nineties. It 272 00:16:34,480 --> 00:16:38,239 Speaker 1: got a big boost starting in nine with the introduction 273 00:16:38,400 --> 00:16:41,560 Speaker 1: of the Mosaic browser and the early days of the 274 00:16:41,600 --> 00:16:47,120 Speaker 1: Worldwide Web, and so earth Link launched in nineteen, along 275 00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:49,320 Speaker 1: with a few other competing I s p s, some 276 00:16:49,400 --> 00:16:51,960 Speaker 1: of which came out before earth Link, some that came 277 00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:54,800 Speaker 1: out around the same time, a couple that followed immediately after, 278 00:16:54,960 --> 00:16:58,680 Speaker 1: and then after that there was an explosion. Among those 279 00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:03,440 Speaker 1: was another important I sp in our story called mind Spring. 280 00:17:04,240 --> 00:17:06,320 Speaker 1: When we come back, I'm going to cover some early 281 00:17:06,359 --> 00:17:09,439 Speaker 1: Internet history and the roles of I s p s 282 00:17:09,520 --> 00:17:12,119 Speaker 1: in those early days, so that we get an understanding 283 00:17:12,119 --> 00:17:15,840 Speaker 1: of what exactly the business here was. But first let's 284 00:17:15,840 --> 00:17:26,080 Speaker 1: take a quick break. All right, we need to get 285 00:17:26,119 --> 00:17:29,480 Speaker 1: an understanding of how the Internet works to grasp why 286 00:17:29,600 --> 00:17:33,560 Speaker 1: Internet service providers are even a thing. I mean, after all, 287 00:17:33,680 --> 00:17:36,240 Speaker 1: shouldn't you just be able to connect right to the 288 00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:39,840 Speaker 1: Internet and just skip that whole I s P. Thing. Well, 289 00:17:39,920 --> 00:17:43,000 Speaker 1: let's get it sorted. But let me give you a warning. 290 00:17:43,480 --> 00:17:46,200 Speaker 1: There are actually a lot of different ways to describe 291 00:17:46,240 --> 00:17:48,400 Speaker 1: how the Internet works, even if you're doing it from 292 00:17:48,440 --> 00:17:51,960 Speaker 1: a very high level. So this is just one way 293 00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:57,640 Speaker 1: to describe the relationship of various uh entities that are 294 00:17:57,760 --> 00:17:59,959 Speaker 1: part of the Internet. So the first thing we need 295 00:18:00,040 --> 00:18:04,160 Speaker 1: to establish is that the Internet is a network of networks. 296 00:18:04,560 --> 00:18:08,480 Speaker 1: They are frequently referred to as autonomous systems or a 297 00:18:08,800 --> 00:18:14,080 Speaker 1: s S. So network and autonomous system are essentially synonymous. 298 00:18:14,119 --> 00:18:17,520 Speaker 1: So network is really a bunch of interconnected devices that 299 00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:22,200 Speaker 1: can communicate with one another, either directly and dedicated lines 300 00:18:22,240 --> 00:18:26,520 Speaker 1: of communication or through various communication hubs. So you've got 301 00:18:26,560 --> 00:18:29,640 Speaker 1: your computers, some of which your servers, some of which 302 00:18:29,640 --> 00:18:33,359 Speaker 1: our clients. You've got your physical lines of communication. Because 303 00:18:33,359 --> 00:18:36,160 Speaker 1: we're gonna skip over things like WiFi for right now, 304 00:18:36,760 --> 00:18:40,000 Speaker 1: and you've got your switches and your routers that make 305 00:18:40,040 --> 00:18:44,200 Speaker 1: sure that the proper connections form between machines. So when 306 00:18:44,200 --> 00:18:47,840 Speaker 1: someone on computer A sends something to someone on computer B, 307 00:18:48,560 --> 00:18:51,359 Speaker 1: the switches and routers make sure that the data from 308 00:18:51,400 --> 00:18:55,840 Speaker 1: A goes to be and not to say computer F 309 00:18:56,400 --> 00:19:00,040 Speaker 1: or every computer on the system. You can have a 310 00:19:00,119 --> 00:19:03,000 Speaker 1: network like this be completely self contained. It does not 311 00:19:03,200 --> 00:19:06,600 Speaker 1: have to be part of the Internet, but you could 312 00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:11,120 Speaker 1: connected to other networks like you could have these networks 313 00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:15,360 Speaker 1: then connect to multiple other networks. However, as new networks 314 00:19:15,440 --> 00:19:19,160 Speaker 1: join up and established connections to yet more networks, things 315 00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:23,320 Speaker 1: start getting exponentially more complicated. If you are starting up 316 00:19:23,359 --> 00:19:26,639 Speaker 1: a brand new computer network, establishing a direct line of 317 00:19:26,680 --> 00:19:30,919 Speaker 1: communication with every other computer network that exists would be 318 00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:34,360 Speaker 1: practically impossible, right. I mean, maybe in the very early 319 00:19:34,480 --> 00:19:37,840 Speaker 1: days of the commercial Internet you can manage this if 320 00:19:37,880 --> 00:19:41,360 Speaker 1: you had enough resources, but today it would be almost 321 00:19:41,359 --> 00:19:45,399 Speaker 1: impossible to do. Over time, we saw the development of 322 00:19:45,440 --> 00:19:48,720 Speaker 1: what we would call the Internet backbone. Now, this describes 323 00:19:48,760 --> 00:19:53,320 Speaker 1: a sort of nexus of data routes. All the physical cables, 324 00:19:53,400 --> 00:19:57,320 Speaker 1: the switches, the routers through which data can travel to 325 00:19:57,440 --> 00:20:01,520 Speaker 1: get from one network to another. The early origins of 326 00:20:01,520 --> 00:20:03,920 Speaker 1: the backbone date to the days when the Internet was 327 00:20:03,960 --> 00:20:08,400 Speaker 1: almost exclusively the domain of the academic world. The National 328 00:20:08,440 --> 00:20:11,080 Speaker 1: Science Foundation in the United States a k a. The 329 00:20:11,320 --> 00:20:15,720 Speaker 1: n s F was instrumental in creating a major foundation 330 00:20:16,040 --> 00:20:20,959 Speaker 1: for this backbone. Until nine, all of the data traveling 331 00:20:21,040 --> 00:20:26,000 Speaker 1: across the NSF net was from universities and research facilities. 332 00:20:26,440 --> 00:20:30,199 Speaker 1: There was no commercial connection to the Internet over the 333 00:20:30,280 --> 00:20:34,680 Speaker 1: nsfuh net at this point. And here's where things really 334 00:20:34,720 --> 00:20:39,400 Speaker 1: got complicated. See, the n s F net was one network, 335 00:20:39,520 --> 00:20:43,399 Speaker 1: but telecommunications companies were starting to build out their own networks, 336 00:20:43,680 --> 00:20:48,640 Speaker 1: including those physical connections that link networks together. First they 337 00:20:48,640 --> 00:20:51,600 Speaker 1: did so internally so that you had like the A, 338 00:20:51,720 --> 00:20:55,000 Speaker 1: T and T internal network, and then later they started 339 00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:57,240 Speaker 1: to connect with each other so that they could do 340 00:20:57,320 --> 00:21:02,800 Speaker 1: data exchanges. NSF net agreed to carry commercial traffic across 341 00:21:03,040 --> 00:21:07,359 Speaker 1: its network connections to deliver to other networks. So it 342 00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:10,800 Speaker 1: was acting as a conduit which would allow customers of 343 00:21:11,000 --> 00:21:15,040 Speaker 1: network one communicate and send files or received files from 344 00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:18,000 Speaker 1: people using you know, network number two. And it was 345 00:21:18,040 --> 00:21:23,399 Speaker 1: the birthplace of the Internet backbone. The big telecommunications companies 346 00:21:23,480 --> 00:21:26,320 Speaker 1: building out their own miles of cable with switches and 347 00:21:26,440 --> 00:21:29,640 Speaker 1: routers were creating kind of their own backbones, but these 348 00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:32,639 Speaker 1: would become interconnected with the infrastructure of n s F 349 00:21:33,040 --> 00:21:37,040 Speaker 1: net and other big companies and thus making the backbone 350 00:21:37,080 --> 00:21:39,439 Speaker 1: more robust. You can think of it as just a 351 00:21:39,440 --> 00:21:42,640 Speaker 1: bunch of cables all twisting together to form an extra 352 00:21:42,800 --> 00:21:46,680 Speaker 1: thick cable and there was a clear benefit to interconnecting 353 00:21:46,680 --> 00:21:48,879 Speaker 1: these networks with one another, but there was also the 354 00:21:48,960 --> 00:21:53,520 Speaker 1: question of how would these interconnections work From a business perspective. 355 00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:57,720 Speaker 1: Building out infrastructure costs a lot of money, and those 356 00:21:57,760 --> 00:22:01,479 Speaker 1: components have limitations on how much data they can handle 357 00:22:01,600 --> 00:22:05,560 Speaker 1: at one time, as well as how an increasingly large 358 00:22:05,640 --> 00:22:09,679 Speaker 1: demand for services can cause congestion through a network. So 359 00:22:09,720 --> 00:22:13,199 Speaker 1: there were questions about how networks would handle the exchange 360 00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:17,560 Speaker 1: of data between one network and another. And we historically 361 00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:20,639 Speaker 1: describe these networks that connect to one another in the 362 00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:25,639 Speaker 1: form of tiers. That's t I, E R. So a 363 00:22:25,720 --> 00:22:30,920 Speaker 1: Tier one network is really large, typically a global reach 364 00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:34,119 Speaker 1: network that's interconnected, and it serves as part of the 365 00:22:34,200 --> 00:22:37,840 Speaker 1: key components of the Internet backbone. Just so you know, 366 00:22:37,960 --> 00:22:41,000 Speaker 1: the definitions for the different tiers are a little bit 367 00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:45,159 Speaker 1: loosey goosey, But essentially, a Tier one network does not 368 00:22:45,359 --> 00:22:48,000 Speaker 1: have to pay for the privilege of sending data to 369 00:22:48,359 --> 00:22:53,439 Speaker 1: or receiving data from other networks. It's called peering. A 370 00:22:53,720 --> 00:22:58,120 Speaker 1: Tier two network has to pay for some transit privileges. 371 00:22:58,160 --> 00:23:01,520 Speaker 1: In other words, it has to pay some other networks 372 00:23:01,520 --> 00:23:05,000 Speaker 1: for the privilege of being able to transfer data between 373 00:23:05,040 --> 00:23:08,239 Speaker 1: the two, but it has agreements in place with a 374 00:23:08,320 --> 00:23:10,800 Speaker 1: lot of other networks where it's the same sort of 375 00:23:10,840 --> 00:23:13,000 Speaker 1: thing of peering, where it doesn't have to make those 376 00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:17,320 Speaker 1: those transit payments. Then you have Tier three networks which 377 00:23:17,680 --> 00:23:21,119 Speaker 1: do not have that level of cloud they have to 378 00:23:21,160 --> 00:23:24,879 Speaker 1: pay those transit fees. So let's say you've got a 379 00:23:24,960 --> 00:23:27,760 Speaker 1: tier one network like a T and T. A T 380 00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:31,560 Speaker 1: and T S network consists of millions and millions and 381 00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:36,760 Speaker 1: millions of devices, including web servers, network switches, cables, traffic routers. 382 00:23:37,359 --> 00:23:40,200 Speaker 1: This network is really huge. And if you've got two 383 00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:43,119 Speaker 1: computers that are on the A T and T network, 384 00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:47,600 Speaker 1: and all the connections between those two computers are essentially 385 00:23:47,640 --> 00:23:49,680 Speaker 1: on a T and T S network, then you've got 386 00:23:49,680 --> 00:23:52,480 Speaker 1: an intra network connection going on. Doesn't matter if they're 387 00:23:52,640 --> 00:23:55,080 Speaker 1: across the country from each other. If it's on that 388 00:23:55,119 --> 00:23:57,520 Speaker 1: one network, the data never actually has to leave the 389 00:23:57,520 --> 00:24:00,320 Speaker 1: provenance of a T and T in theory anyway. But 390 00:24:00,560 --> 00:24:02,359 Speaker 1: let's say that you're on a device that connects to 391 00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:04,199 Speaker 1: a T and T S network and you want to 392 00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:08,120 Speaker 1: connect to a server that's on a different Tier one network, 393 00:24:08,280 --> 00:24:13,240 Speaker 1: like one that's on Lumen Technologies network. Any data exchange 394 00:24:13,359 --> 00:24:15,960 Speaker 1: is going to have to pass from one network to another. 395 00:24:16,119 --> 00:24:19,240 Speaker 1: So if you think of network connections like private roads, 396 00:24:19,320 --> 00:24:22,920 Speaker 1: you're talking about going from one private community into another 397 00:24:23,040 --> 00:24:26,080 Speaker 1: private community. But there's a lot of traffic that goes 398 00:24:26,119 --> 00:24:30,200 Speaker 1: back and forth between these two huge entities, and figuring 399 00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:32,760 Speaker 1: out how to charge for that would be a nightmare, 400 00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:36,920 Speaker 1: particularly since you could see big shifts in the direction 401 00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:39,680 Speaker 1: of data flow. And usually it all comes out as 402 00:24:39,680 --> 00:24:43,560 Speaker 1: a wash anyway, with each network owing pretty much the 403 00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:46,879 Speaker 1: same amount to the other network. And so these Tier 404 00:24:46,880 --> 00:24:51,000 Speaker 1: one networks have established these agreements called peering agreements with 405 00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:54,600 Speaker 1: other Tier one networks. And what these agreements say essentially 406 00:24:54,640 --> 00:24:57,080 Speaker 1: is that, yeah, I'll accept data from your network on 407 00:24:57,119 --> 00:24:59,320 Speaker 1: my lines if you do the same for me, and 408 00:24:59,320 --> 00:25:02,199 Speaker 1: we'll call it even and Stephen. To be a Tier 409 00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:05,040 Speaker 1: one you've got to be big with a global or 410 00:25:05,160 --> 00:25:09,440 Speaker 1: nearly global reach, and that's that sort of access is 411 00:25:09,560 --> 00:25:13,080 Speaker 1: way too grand for most networks. Tier two networks typically 412 00:25:13,080 --> 00:25:16,320 Speaker 1: have a large reach, though not necessarily a global one, 413 00:25:16,640 --> 00:25:19,120 Speaker 1: and they can have peering agreements with other Tier two 414 00:25:19,200 --> 00:25:23,399 Speaker 1: networks creating you know, regional access points. So in this case, 415 00:25:23,720 --> 00:25:26,960 Speaker 1: if Tier two Network A and Tier two Network B 416 00:25:27,280 --> 00:25:30,840 Speaker 1: are both connected to a regional access point, the same 417 00:25:30,880 --> 00:25:35,920 Speaker 1: one data can travel up from a user on Network A, 418 00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:40,680 Speaker 1: upstream to that regional access point, crossover to Network B, 419 00:25:41,320 --> 00:25:44,280 Speaker 1: and go downstream to a target computer and there's no 420 00:25:44,359 --> 00:25:46,320 Speaker 1: need for the data to go all the way up 421 00:25:46,440 --> 00:25:50,080 Speaker 1: to the backbone in that case. But let's say you've 422 00:25:50,119 --> 00:25:53,439 Speaker 1: got Tier two networks C and it's not connected to 423 00:25:53,480 --> 00:25:57,280 Speaker 1: that same regional access point. While in that case, the 424 00:25:57,359 --> 00:26:00,960 Speaker 1: data from network AY has to travel up stream beyond 425 00:26:01,119 --> 00:26:04,800 Speaker 1: that regional access point, further up the chain to the 426 00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:09,080 Speaker 1: Internet backbone, then back down the backbone into network C 427 00:26:09,480 --> 00:26:12,200 Speaker 1: and down to the destination. And there could be transit 428 00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:15,120 Speaker 1: fees associated with that because the Tier two network has 429 00:26:15,160 --> 00:26:18,760 Speaker 1: to interface with the Tier one networks that are associated 430 00:26:18,800 --> 00:26:22,520 Speaker 1: with the backbone. But hey, there's more. We've got Tier 431 00:26:22,600 --> 00:26:26,560 Speaker 1: three networks as well. Now these include smaller, typically local 432 00:26:26,680 --> 00:26:30,040 Speaker 1: I s p s like earth Link. These companies connect 433 00:26:30,160 --> 00:26:33,560 Speaker 1: up to another network, either Tier two or Tier one, 434 00:26:33,960 --> 00:26:36,000 Speaker 1: and they have to pay for the privilege to do so. 435 00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:39,080 Speaker 1: In return, the Tier three network can send data to 436 00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:42,359 Speaker 1: and received data from anywhere else on the Internet, and 437 00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:45,240 Speaker 1: the way that they pass that cost on is through 438 00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:49,080 Speaker 1: the subscription services to the customers. And the reason you 439 00:26:49,160 --> 00:26:53,320 Speaker 1: need an I s P is that you as an 440 00:26:53,359 --> 00:26:57,040 Speaker 1: individual can't really go to a Tier two or a 441 00:26:57,119 --> 00:27:02,240 Speaker 1: Tier one network and negotiate a direct connection to that 442 00:27:02,359 --> 00:27:05,560 Speaker 1: network and transit fees so that you can tap into 443 00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:09,400 Speaker 1: their physical infrastructure to operate across the Internet. At least, 444 00:27:09,400 --> 00:27:12,440 Speaker 1: you can't do that unless you have what is known 445 00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:17,080 Speaker 1: in the technical world as a metric crap ton of money. Now, 446 00:27:17,119 --> 00:27:20,199 Speaker 1: if you do have a metric crap ton of money, 447 00:27:20,680 --> 00:27:23,000 Speaker 1: you might be able to manage it, but it would 448 00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:26,560 Speaker 1: be wicked expensive. So the I s p s serve 449 00:27:26,680 --> 00:27:30,600 Speaker 1: as a liaison between the end customer, whether it's a 450 00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:34,680 Speaker 1: business or someone like me or you, and the infrastructure 451 00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:38,080 Speaker 1: of the Internet at large. The rates you pay your 452 00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:41,840 Speaker 1: I s P might partly go to costs like transit 453 00:27:41,880 --> 00:27:45,240 Speaker 1: fees if your I s P is Tier two or lower, 454 00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:48,919 Speaker 1: And it could also go to funding more infrastructure in 455 00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:52,880 Speaker 1: the future, or hey, it might just go to boosting 456 00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:55,800 Speaker 1: profits and making shareholders happy. Let's be honest, a lot 457 00:27:55,840 --> 00:27:59,679 Speaker 1: of the money is going to that. This arrangement shook 458 00:27:59,680 --> 00:28:02,600 Speaker 1: out over the early years of the Internet. It wasn't 459 00:28:02,680 --> 00:28:05,640 Speaker 1: something that was planned out from the beginning. This had 460 00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:09,919 Speaker 1: to form organically over those early years and things were 461 00:28:09,960 --> 00:28:14,359 Speaker 1: still kind of influx when earth Link launched. In the 462 00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:19,040 Speaker 1: company's ten modems would accept incoming calls from customers and 463 00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:22,920 Speaker 1: then connect them with a network access point further upstream 464 00:28:23,160 --> 00:28:26,359 Speaker 1: to tap into the Internet at large. Earth Link charged 465 00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:29,080 Speaker 1: customers a fee to access the service, and part of 466 00:28:29,119 --> 00:28:32,440 Speaker 1: earth links costs included those transit fees that it provided 467 00:28:32,480 --> 00:28:35,600 Speaker 1: in return for access to the Internet. And while we're 468 00:28:35,600 --> 00:28:38,640 Speaker 1: on the subject of technical discussions, remember when I played 469 00:28:38,680 --> 00:28:41,040 Speaker 1: that modem sound at the beginning of the show, You 470 00:28:41,080 --> 00:29:05,520 Speaker 1: know this one. What the heck does that sound mean? Well, 471 00:29:05,560 --> 00:29:08,000 Speaker 1: let's go through it a bit by bit. Now. The 472 00:29:08,120 --> 00:29:11,760 Speaker 1: very first sound we hear is the modem effectively activating 473 00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:13,920 Speaker 1: the phone line. It says, if you were to pick 474 00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:19,600 Speaker 1: up a landline in any location. You start to hear 475 00:29:19,640 --> 00:29:23,240 Speaker 1: the ringtone, then we hear the modem dial a number. 476 00:29:23,720 --> 00:29:27,160 Speaker 1: That number corresponds with whatever service you're dialing into. It 477 00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:30,520 Speaker 1: could be a BBS, in which case you're dialing direct 478 00:29:30,600 --> 00:29:34,520 Speaker 1: into a modem that connects to the BBS administrator's computer, 479 00:29:35,240 --> 00:29:37,280 Speaker 1: or you could be dialing into an I s P, 480 00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:40,920 Speaker 1: which then completes the connection to the Internet at large. 481 00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:45,400 Speaker 1: Next follows that weird series of noises, and here's where 482 00:29:45,400 --> 00:29:50,840 Speaker 1: things get pretty interesting. Computers are digital. They run on 483 00:29:51,040 --> 00:29:55,480 Speaker 1: binary signals, which consists of zeros and ones the old 484 00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:59,160 Speaker 1: off and on switch, and you can think of a 485 00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:03,960 Speaker 1: binary signal is really a bunch of discrete binary values. 486 00:30:04,440 --> 00:30:07,120 Speaker 1: It's not like a sign wave. It's a bunch of 487 00:30:07,200 --> 00:30:10,080 Speaker 1: zeros in one, so it looks more like little stair 488 00:30:10,160 --> 00:30:13,760 Speaker 1: steps than uh and flat planes and things like that, 489 00:30:13,880 --> 00:30:18,120 Speaker 1: rather than a curved line that is unbroken. But communication 490 00:30:18,320 --> 00:30:23,440 Speaker 1: over phone lines is analog, not binary, not digital. So 491 00:30:23,640 --> 00:30:27,680 Speaker 1: the phone converts sound waves into an electrical signal with 492 00:30:27,840 --> 00:30:31,480 Speaker 1: varying voltage, which is a constant signal, not a set 493 00:30:31,480 --> 00:30:34,520 Speaker 1: of discrete values, and then the phone at the other 494 00:30:34,680 --> 00:30:37,720 Speaker 1: end of the phone call takes this electric signal with 495 00:30:37,840 --> 00:30:40,680 Speaker 1: varying voltage and converts it back into sound. Now, I'm 496 00:30:40,680 --> 00:30:42,760 Speaker 1: not going to go into all of that and how 497 00:30:42,800 --> 00:30:45,200 Speaker 1: that works because it's not important for our discussion, and 498 00:30:45,200 --> 00:30:49,160 Speaker 1: I've also covered in another episodes. But the modem's purpose 499 00:30:49,760 --> 00:30:52,680 Speaker 1: is to take the digital signals of the computer and 500 00:30:52,720 --> 00:30:56,000 Speaker 1: convert them into something that can pass through an analog 501 00:30:56,040 --> 00:31:01,880 Speaker 1: transmission line. So it modulates the signal, coding it as sound, 502 00:31:02,160 --> 00:31:05,000 Speaker 1: which in turn gets converted into the electrical signal with 503 00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:08,880 Speaker 1: varying voltage. A modem on the opposite end receives this 504 00:31:08,960 --> 00:31:14,400 Speaker 1: modulated signal and demodulates it back into binary digital information. 505 00:31:15,320 --> 00:31:18,640 Speaker 1: Years later, the f c C in the United States 506 00:31:19,120 --> 00:31:22,960 Speaker 1: began to work on the transition of shutting down the 507 00:31:23,040 --> 00:31:27,120 Speaker 1: analog phone network, which was largely obsolete, but at this 508 00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:29,960 Speaker 1: point in the early nineties, it still was very much 509 00:31:29,960 --> 00:31:33,920 Speaker 1: a thing. Okay, So getting back to the sound of 510 00:31:33,920 --> 00:31:36,440 Speaker 1: the modem, the next couple of weird tones we hear 511 00:31:36,880 --> 00:31:40,200 Speaker 1: represents that the two modems in question are agreeing on 512 00:31:40,240 --> 00:31:43,680 Speaker 1: what speed they can actually work together in order to 513 00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:46,080 Speaker 1: do the next couple of steps. So they're setting the 514 00:31:46,080 --> 00:31:48,959 Speaker 1: ground rules of how quickly they can go back and 515 00:31:49,000 --> 00:31:51,160 Speaker 1: forth with each other. So in the good old days, 516 00:31:51,560 --> 00:31:55,000 Speaker 1: he had modems with different amount of information that could 517 00:31:55,000 --> 00:32:00,520 Speaker 1: be set by that modem per second. Oh hey, it's 518 00:32:00,800 --> 00:32:05,080 Speaker 1: future Jonathan breaking into this episode to fix something that 519 00:32:05,200 --> 00:32:09,760 Speaker 1: I said when I first recorded this particular episode that 520 00:32:09,920 --> 00:32:13,440 Speaker 1: was wrong. So here's what I did say. I said 521 00:32:13,480 --> 00:32:16,800 Speaker 1: that when earth Link launched, the standard modem speed at 522 00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:21,440 Speaker 1: the time was fifty bits per second. That part isn't correct, 523 00:32:21,840 --> 00:32:24,160 Speaker 1: but it gets worse. But at the time that earth 524 00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:27,360 Speaker 1: Link launched, the fast consumer modems that were on the 525 00:32:27,360 --> 00:32:30,960 Speaker 1: market were capable of handling data at twenty eight point 526 00:32:31,080 --> 00:32:34,200 Speaker 1: eight kilobits per second. Those were the fastest ones that 527 00:32:34,240 --> 00:32:37,479 Speaker 1: were available at the time, which is not fast by 528 00:32:37,600 --> 00:32:43,000 Speaker 1: modern standards. And these were BAWD modems. And when I 529 00:32:43,040 --> 00:32:46,080 Speaker 1: first sat down to record this episode, I made a 530 00:32:46,160 --> 00:32:49,760 Speaker 1: common mistake, which was that I talked about bawd and 531 00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:52,200 Speaker 1: bits per second as if they are the same thing, 532 00:32:52,320 --> 00:32:55,600 Speaker 1: and they are not. So if you hear someone say 533 00:32:55,640 --> 00:32:59,320 Speaker 1: a modem is undred baud, this does not mean that 534 00:32:59,360 --> 00:33:02,480 Speaker 1: the modem tray submitted data at two point four kilobits 535 00:33:02,880 --> 00:33:06,480 Speaker 1: or two thousand, four hundred bits per second. In fact, 536 00:33:07,440 --> 00:33:11,160 Speaker 1: hundred baud modems had a range of speeds from nine 537 00:33:11,200 --> 00:33:13,640 Speaker 1: point six kill a bits per second all the way 538 00:33:13,720 --> 00:33:16,719 Speaker 1: up to nineteen point two kill a bits per second. 539 00:33:17,200 --> 00:33:20,640 Speaker 1: There were old modems that did top out at two thousand, 540 00:33:20,680 --> 00:33:23,320 Speaker 1: four hundred bits per second, but they were not twenty 541 00:33:23,360 --> 00:33:26,920 Speaker 1: four hundred bawd modems. They were actually either six hundred 542 00:33:26,920 --> 00:33:31,600 Speaker 1: bawd or twelve hundred baud modems, so remember bawd and 543 00:33:31,680 --> 00:33:35,640 Speaker 1: bits per second are different. Also, while the top consumer 544 00:33:35,680 --> 00:33:38,040 Speaker 1: modems of the time could reach speeds of twenty eight 545 00:33:38,040 --> 00:33:40,680 Speaker 1: point eight kill a bits per second, it was possible 546 00:33:40,720 --> 00:33:44,680 Speaker 1: to lease phone lines. Companies could do this and achieve 547 00:33:44,800 --> 00:33:48,000 Speaker 1: speeds of up to fifty six kill a bits per second, 548 00:33:48,360 --> 00:33:52,040 Speaker 1: but consumer modems would not reach those speeds until the 549 00:33:52,120 --> 00:33:54,960 Speaker 1: late nineteen nineties. As you listen to the rest of 550 00:33:54,960 --> 00:33:57,800 Speaker 1: this episode, I might trip up a bit on that, 551 00:33:57,840 --> 00:34:00,800 Speaker 1: but I wanted to use this opportunity to address a 552 00:34:00,880 --> 00:34:04,320 Speaker 1: goof that I made early on. Anyway, at this point 553 00:34:04,360 --> 00:34:07,479 Speaker 1: in the modem noise sequence, the two modems are figuring 554 00:34:07,480 --> 00:34:11,160 Speaker 1: out what speed they can communicate so that they can 555 00:34:11,200 --> 00:34:14,800 Speaker 1: set the rest of the rules. All right, pass Jonathan, 556 00:34:15,360 --> 00:34:19,120 Speaker 1: take it away. The next few signals are a handshake 557 00:34:19,360 --> 00:34:23,640 Speaker 1: between the two modems that set various parameters that dictate 558 00:34:23,719 --> 00:34:27,319 Speaker 1: stuff like the data bit number and parody between the 559 00:34:27,360 --> 00:34:29,799 Speaker 1: two modems. To get into all of that would be 560 00:34:29,920 --> 00:34:32,640 Speaker 1: very technical, we're just going to skip over it. Essentially, 561 00:34:32,680 --> 00:34:34,960 Speaker 1: it's the rules by which the two modems will follow 562 00:34:35,080 --> 00:34:38,960 Speaker 1: as they exchange information. Then there's a rate negotiation for 563 00:34:39,000 --> 00:34:41,960 Speaker 1: how fast the modems will actually allow data to travel 564 00:34:42,040 --> 00:34:45,360 Speaker 1: between them, and then the two modems establish a connection 565 00:34:45,400 --> 00:34:49,520 Speaker 1: that allows for simultaneous communication, which means the modems can 566 00:34:49,560 --> 00:34:52,799 Speaker 1: both send and receive data on the same line at 567 00:34:52,840 --> 00:34:56,400 Speaker 1: the same time. Assuming all that goes well, the connection 568 00:34:56,480 --> 00:34:59,440 Speaker 1: is accepted, and you finally hear the sound of actual 569 00:34:59,560 --> 00:35:03,200 Speaker 1: through it between the two modems before your modem speaker 570 00:35:03,239 --> 00:35:05,200 Speaker 1: switches off, so you don't have to hear it the 571 00:35:05,200 --> 00:35:10,440 Speaker 1: whole time you're on the Internet. Okay, that took a while, 572 00:35:10,880 --> 00:35:13,960 Speaker 1: but I felt it was necessary to understand earth links business. 573 00:35:14,080 --> 00:35:17,000 Speaker 1: When we come back, we'll pick back up with earth Link, 574 00:35:17,080 --> 00:35:27,920 Speaker 1: but first let's take another quick break now. As I mentioned, 575 00:35:28,200 --> 00:35:31,920 Speaker 1: when earth Link launched in nine four, the Internet was 576 00:35:31,960 --> 00:35:35,800 Speaker 1: in a rapid growth period and stuff like transit fees 577 00:35:35,880 --> 00:35:39,719 Speaker 1: and peerage was still shaking out. Dayton's determination to have 578 00:35:39,800 --> 00:35:42,160 Speaker 1: an I s P with good customer service proved to 579 00:35:42,200 --> 00:35:45,440 Speaker 1: be a popular notion, and his little company began to 580 00:35:45,480 --> 00:35:51,160 Speaker 1: grow steadily. In earth Link and the newly formed Netscape 581 00:35:51,160 --> 00:35:54,319 Speaker 1: Communications Corporation signed a deal that would really help out. 582 00:35:55,200 --> 00:35:59,919 Speaker 1: Like earth Link, Netscape had launched in it had also 583 00:36:00,280 --> 00:36:05,520 Speaker 1: introduced the mosaic Netscape browser, which quickly became the dominant 584 00:36:05,560 --> 00:36:08,200 Speaker 1: web browser on the market, though we should also remember 585 00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:12,920 Speaker 1: this was a very small market by today's standards. Subsequently, 586 00:36:13,239 --> 00:36:17,480 Speaker 1: the company would name the browser Netscape Navigator, and it 587 00:36:17,560 --> 00:36:20,719 Speaker 1: was a commercial web browser, meaning customers would need to 588 00:36:20,719 --> 00:36:23,440 Speaker 1: pay for it in order to install it on their machines, or, 589 00:36:24,520 --> 00:36:27,920 Speaker 1: as was the case with earth Link, another company like 590 00:36:27,960 --> 00:36:31,120 Speaker 1: an I s P, could purchase a license to offer 591 00:36:31,200 --> 00:36:36,320 Speaker 1: the browser on either machines or installation software that customers 592 00:36:36,320 --> 00:36:39,640 Speaker 1: would then use. So you could be a computer manufacturer 593 00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:43,080 Speaker 1: and make this deal and O E M in other words, 594 00:36:43,440 --> 00:36:46,719 Speaker 1: and then sell the computers to customers and it would 595 00:36:46,760 --> 00:36:50,440 Speaker 1: already have Netscape Navigator on it, or if you were 596 00:36:50,480 --> 00:36:54,120 Speaker 1: earth Link, you would offer up an installation c D 597 00:36:54,640 --> 00:36:58,480 Speaker 1: that would include the Netscape Navigator browser to make it 598 00:36:58,560 --> 00:37:01,000 Speaker 1: really easy to connect to the World Wide Web and 599 00:37:01,160 --> 00:37:05,919 Speaker 1: earth Link. Meanwhile, on the infrastructure side, earth Link made 600 00:37:05,960 --> 00:37:09,319 Speaker 1: a really shrewd move. Rather than building out banks of 601 00:37:09,360 --> 00:37:14,000 Speaker 1: telephones connected to various telephone company networks across the United States, 602 00:37:14,719 --> 00:37:19,359 Speaker 1: which would have been an administrative and maintenance nightmare to oversee, 603 00:37:19,800 --> 00:37:25,040 Speaker 1: instead earth Link least capacity from existing networks, and a 604 00:37:25,040 --> 00:37:27,440 Speaker 1: lot of these were networks that were stuff that wasn't 605 00:37:27,480 --> 00:37:32,400 Speaker 1: handling your your standard phone conversation communications. They were instead 606 00:37:32,480 --> 00:37:36,440 Speaker 1: networks that were dedicated to stuff like verifying credit card transactions. 607 00:37:36,840 --> 00:37:40,239 Speaker 1: So earth Link would lease those lines to serve as 608 00:37:40,239 --> 00:37:44,000 Speaker 1: connection points for the Internet for their customers, routing incoming 609 00:37:44,000 --> 00:37:48,280 Speaker 1: calls from customers to available leased lines on these other companies, 610 00:37:48,560 --> 00:37:52,680 Speaker 1: And because the lines actually belonged to another company, earth 611 00:37:52,719 --> 00:37:56,160 Speaker 1: Link wasn't the one responsible to keep up with maintenance 612 00:37:56,520 --> 00:38:00,239 Speaker 1: on an increasingly complicated network. They were using exist sting 613 00:38:00,280 --> 00:38:05,000 Speaker 1: infrastructure that otherwise was being dormant. Earth Link also signed 614 00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:08,320 Speaker 1: an agreement with a company called you u Net Technologies. 615 00:38:08,880 --> 00:38:11,520 Speaker 1: You you Net was one of the first I s 616 00:38:11,560 --> 00:38:14,839 Speaker 1: p s, having been founded in nineteen seven, so two 617 00:38:14,920 --> 00:38:19,080 Speaker 1: years before commercial Internet traffic actually started crossing the NSF 618 00:38:19,160 --> 00:38:23,680 Speaker 1: net backbone. It was also one of the tier one networks, 619 00:38:23,920 --> 00:38:27,839 Speaker 1: having built out a considerable infrastructure early on in the 620 00:38:27,840 --> 00:38:31,080 Speaker 1: Internet days, you you net was one of the largest 621 00:38:31,120 --> 00:38:33,880 Speaker 1: and fastest growing I s p s in the world. 622 00:38:34,480 --> 00:38:38,480 Speaker 1: Earth Links agreement meant that earth Link would connect customers 623 00:38:38,680 --> 00:38:41,640 Speaker 1: to you you net phone lines. The agreement meant that 624 00:38:41,680 --> 00:38:44,719 Speaker 1: earth Link could sign up customers for service and give 625 00:38:44,719 --> 00:38:48,040 Speaker 1: those customers you you net dial up numbers, and in return, 626 00:38:48,239 --> 00:38:51,760 Speaker 1: earth Link would pay you unt a fee to access 627 00:38:51,840 --> 00:38:56,000 Speaker 1: that dial up number bank and this dramatically increased earth 628 00:38:56,040 --> 00:38:59,280 Speaker 1: links reach, as you u net had access points across 629 00:38:59,320 --> 00:39:02,359 Speaker 1: nearly one hundred cities in the United States. While earth 630 00:39:02,400 --> 00:39:06,000 Speaker 1: Link was still physically really a regional I s P 631 00:39:06,320 --> 00:39:10,160 Speaker 1: mostly rooted out of the West Coast. Unit, by the way, 632 00:39:10,480 --> 00:39:14,719 Speaker 1: has its own fascinating and complicated history, as it would 633 00:39:14,719 --> 00:39:17,799 Speaker 1: go through a series of mergers and acquisitions over the years, 634 00:39:17,840 --> 00:39:21,239 Speaker 1: and ultimately it would end up with Verizon, but that's 635 00:39:21,239 --> 00:39:24,120 Speaker 1: a story for a different podcast. Oh and earth Link 636 00:39:24,160 --> 00:39:27,759 Speaker 1: also did something that really resonated with its customers. So 637 00:39:27,800 --> 00:39:30,120 Speaker 1: in the early days of the Internet, and this was 638 00:39:30,200 --> 00:39:33,880 Speaker 1: back from the BBS days, the standard practice was for 639 00:39:33,960 --> 00:39:37,080 Speaker 1: a company like an OSP or an I s P 640 00:39:37,520 --> 00:39:41,400 Speaker 1: to charge customers two fees. The first fee was a 641 00:39:41,440 --> 00:39:45,080 Speaker 1: recurring service fee, like a monthly fee. That's what gave 642 00:39:45,120 --> 00:39:49,759 Speaker 1: customers access to the provider's services. But then there was 643 00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:53,640 Speaker 1: a second fee, usually an hourly fee, and the more 644 00:39:53,719 --> 00:39:56,800 Speaker 1: time a customer spent connected to a service each month, 645 00:39:57,239 --> 00:40:00,319 Speaker 1: the higher this fee would be. Now, in part, this 646 00:40:00,440 --> 00:40:02,960 Speaker 1: was a measure to help deal with the potential problem 647 00:40:03,040 --> 00:40:07,000 Speaker 1: of traffic congestion. If a service became really popular, the 648 00:40:07,520 --> 00:40:12,080 Speaker 1: demand for those services could outstrip its capacity. So if 649 00:40:12,120 --> 00:40:15,520 Speaker 1: you've got ten phone lines and twelve people all want 650 00:40:15,520 --> 00:40:17,759 Speaker 1: to connect to the Internet at the same time, you 651 00:40:17,840 --> 00:40:21,200 Speaker 1: got a problem. So putting in an hourly fee would 652 00:40:21,239 --> 00:40:24,359 Speaker 1: both maximize the revenue you were bringing in and act 653 00:40:24,400 --> 00:40:27,480 Speaker 1: as a sort of limiting factor for individuals so that 654 00:40:28,000 --> 00:40:31,480 Speaker 1: one person wouldn't take over an entire line by themselves, 655 00:40:31,480 --> 00:40:34,239 Speaker 1: you know, like log into the service and just never 656 00:40:34,360 --> 00:40:37,600 Speaker 1: log out. Well, that would be prohibitively expensive with the 657 00:40:37,680 --> 00:40:40,880 Speaker 1: hourly fee, so that helped prevent that from happening. So 658 00:40:40,920 --> 00:40:44,160 Speaker 1: it's both for a traffic management purpose and a revenue 659 00:40:44,200 --> 00:40:48,440 Speaker 1: generating purpose, and customers hated it because it meant feeling 660 00:40:48,480 --> 00:40:51,360 Speaker 1: like you were paying for the same thing twice. Earth 661 00:40:51,440 --> 00:40:55,240 Speaker 1: Link changed that by introducing a flat fee for its service, 662 00:40:55,400 --> 00:40:59,600 Speaker 1: so customers would pay nineteen dollars per month to earth Link. 663 00:41:00,040 --> 00:41:03,000 Speaker 1: In return, they could access the service whenever they wanted, 664 00:41:03,160 --> 00:41:06,080 Speaker 1: for as long as they wanted, with no hour leafees. 665 00:41:06,600 --> 00:41:10,080 Speaker 1: Earth Link could do this because of those relationships that 666 00:41:10,120 --> 00:41:13,719 Speaker 1: the company had been making with other telecommunications companies and 667 00:41:13,800 --> 00:41:16,720 Speaker 1: other I s p s. As long as earth Link's 668 00:41:16,800 --> 00:41:21,320 Speaker 1: capacity to make connections through its partners was ahead of demand, 669 00:41:21,920 --> 00:41:26,359 Speaker 1: the flat fee would work just fine. By earth Link 670 00:41:26,480 --> 00:41:29,560 Speaker 1: was really taking off, and that's when Sky Dayton would 671 00:41:29,560 --> 00:41:33,160 Speaker 1: step down as CEO. He stayed on board as the 672 00:41:33,280 --> 00:41:37,440 Speaker 1: chairman of earth Link, but the new CEO was Charles 673 00:41:37,640 --> 00:41:42,440 Speaker 1: Gary Betty. And while this isn't an episode about Dayton himself, 674 00:41:42,760 --> 00:41:45,160 Speaker 1: I do find it interesting that Dayton has a bit 675 00:41:45,160 --> 00:41:48,480 Speaker 1: of a history of founding companies, getting them up and 676 00:41:48,560 --> 00:41:52,480 Speaker 1: running and on the precipice of becoming, you know, truly huge, 677 00:41:52,880 --> 00:41:55,200 Speaker 1: and then he steps back and then he does it 678 00:41:55,239 --> 00:41:57,880 Speaker 1: all over again with a new company. And he reminds 679 00:41:57,880 --> 00:42:01,800 Speaker 1: me of several other entrepreneurs who really excel in getting 680 00:42:01,800 --> 00:42:04,719 Speaker 1: business ideas off the ground, but then they prefer to 681 00:42:04,800 --> 00:42:08,520 Speaker 1: step away to launch something else that's new, because that's 682 00:42:08,560 --> 00:42:11,640 Speaker 1: their real strong suit, and they'll hand the reins over 683 00:42:11,719 --> 00:42:14,560 Speaker 1: to a different leader in order to foster the company 684 00:42:14,640 --> 00:42:19,160 Speaker 1: into its next phase. So that was Gary Betty's role. 685 00:42:19,800 --> 00:42:23,239 Speaker 1: When Gary Betty took over, earth Link had around half 686 00:42:23,239 --> 00:42:27,239 Speaker 1: a million subscribers. It was still largely considered a regional 687 00:42:27,480 --> 00:42:33,080 Speaker 1: I SP but under Betty's leadership, earth Link would expand dramatically, 688 00:42:33,400 --> 00:42:36,200 Speaker 1: and that would include scooping up other regional I s 689 00:42:36,239 --> 00:42:39,520 Speaker 1: p s to extend its own reach, and it would 690 00:42:39,560 --> 00:42:42,960 Speaker 1: have more than five million customers by two thousand seven. 691 00:42:43,480 --> 00:42:47,520 Speaker 1: He also oversaw earth links transition from a private company 692 00:42:47,560 --> 00:42:50,399 Speaker 1: into a publicly traded one. Earth Link would hold its 693 00:42:50,400 --> 00:42:56,800 Speaker 1: initial public offering in Sadly two thousand seven, Gary Betty 694 00:42:56,880 --> 00:43:00,279 Speaker 1: would pass away at the age of forty nine after 695 00:43:00,320 --> 00:43:03,000 Speaker 1: he developed cancer. And I'm sure we're going to cover 696 00:43:03,080 --> 00:43:07,160 Speaker 1: more of Gary Betty's contributions in part two of this series, 697 00:43:07,800 --> 00:43:10,759 Speaker 1: but it's time to switch gears for just a second now. 698 00:43:10,800 --> 00:43:14,160 Speaker 1: I haven't really mentioned Atlanta since the beginning of this episode, 699 00:43:14,440 --> 00:43:17,760 Speaker 1: and yet earth Link has its headquarters in Atlanta today, 700 00:43:18,120 --> 00:43:20,840 Speaker 1: and the reason for that lies with the totally different 701 00:43:20,880 --> 00:43:25,160 Speaker 1: Internet service provider company I mentioned earlier, mind Spring. The 702 00:43:25,200 --> 00:43:27,440 Speaker 1: history of earth Link and the history of mind Spring 703 00:43:27,480 --> 00:43:30,680 Speaker 1: are very much tied together, as later down the road 704 00:43:30,800 --> 00:43:33,440 Speaker 1: the two merge, so I thought I would end this 705 00:43:33,480 --> 00:43:36,960 Speaker 1: episode by talking a little bit about mind Springs story. 706 00:43:37,239 --> 00:43:41,680 Speaker 1: The company's founder was Charles Brewer. Unlike Sky Dayton, Brewer 707 00:43:41,840 --> 00:43:45,400 Speaker 1: went to university. He earned an NBA at Stanford's Graduate 708 00:43:45,400 --> 00:43:49,080 Speaker 1: School of Business in fact, but like Dayton, Brewer encountered 709 00:43:49,120 --> 00:43:52,360 Speaker 1: frustrations when he tried to connect to this new fangled 710 00:43:52,440 --> 00:43:55,640 Speaker 1: thing called the Internet back in the early nineties, and 711 00:43:55,719 --> 00:43:58,600 Speaker 1: like Dayton, his solution was to found a company that 712 00:43:58,600 --> 00:44:02,719 Speaker 1: would facilitate Internet can actions and remove those frustrations. So 713 00:44:02,760 --> 00:44:06,319 Speaker 1: he founded mind Spring as a result, and reportedly in 714 00:44:06,360 --> 00:44:10,000 Speaker 1: those early days his company had only eight modems and 715 00:44:10,040 --> 00:44:12,000 Speaker 1: for the first four months of its operation it didn't 716 00:44:12,000 --> 00:44:16,279 Speaker 1: even charge its customers. It also shared staff and equipment 717 00:44:16,320 --> 00:44:20,520 Speaker 1: with another I s P called Internet Atlanta. By mid 718 00:44:21,960 --> 00:44:25,560 Speaker 1: mind Spring transitioned into a model that would charge customers, 719 00:44:25,880 --> 00:44:28,120 Speaker 1: so now it actually had a way of making revenue 720 00:44:28,400 --> 00:44:31,239 Speaker 1: and had worked out the various kinks during those first 721 00:44:31,280 --> 00:44:33,960 Speaker 1: four months of you know, the technical aspects of being 722 00:44:34,000 --> 00:44:37,360 Speaker 1: an i s P mind Spring had a reputation for 723 00:44:37,440 --> 00:44:41,600 Speaker 1: having a really relaxed company culture with like no corporate 724 00:44:41,680 --> 00:44:45,480 Speaker 1: dress code. Employees were encouraged to be creative where their workspaces. 725 00:44:45,840 --> 00:44:49,000 Speaker 1: The descriptions I've read of mind Spring made me think 726 00:44:49,040 --> 00:44:52,000 Speaker 1: of the dot com startups that would pop up in 727 00:44:52,040 --> 00:44:54,960 Speaker 1: the years following, with companies like spending a lot of 728 00:44:55,000 --> 00:44:58,719 Speaker 1: time and attention and money on creating really interesting workspaces. 729 00:44:58,760 --> 00:45:01,520 Speaker 1: That's what mind Spring makes me think of. And like 730 00:45:01,600 --> 00:45:05,000 Speaker 1: earth Link, mind Spring would form partnerships with various parties 731 00:45:05,280 --> 00:45:09,080 Speaker 1: to extend its reach, its service, and to grow very quickly, 732 00:45:09,640 --> 00:45:13,040 Speaker 1: and it would boost that by acquiring other companies, mostly 733 00:45:13,280 --> 00:45:17,239 Speaker 1: small regional I s p s like Nando Net out 734 00:45:17,239 --> 00:45:20,479 Speaker 1: of North Carolina i sp s. We're popping up all 735 00:45:20,520 --> 00:45:23,520 Speaker 1: over the place. There'd be thousands of them over the 736 00:45:23,560 --> 00:45:25,880 Speaker 1: next few years, almost ten thousand by the time we 737 00:45:25,880 --> 00:45:29,759 Speaker 1: get to the late nineties, and MindSpring having a headstart 738 00:45:29,800 --> 00:45:32,200 Speaker 1: and a good amount of cash due to early investors 739 00:45:32,239 --> 00:45:36,160 Speaker 1: and a popular service, was buying them up whenever it could. Now. 740 00:45:36,160 --> 00:45:38,719 Speaker 1: In past episodes of tech Stuff, I've talked about how 741 00:45:38,800 --> 00:45:42,600 Speaker 1: some companies expand by building out their services into new regions, 742 00:45:43,000 --> 00:45:46,200 Speaker 1: into new territories and to new kinds of business, like 743 00:45:46,280 --> 00:45:49,960 Speaker 1: physically investing in building that stuff out. To do that 744 00:45:50,200 --> 00:45:54,080 Speaker 1: is challenging, it is expensive, it is risky. But another 745 00:45:54,120 --> 00:45:58,160 Speaker 1: way to expand very quickly is to just acquire other 746 00:45:58,239 --> 00:46:02,120 Speaker 1: companies that already have a presence there, including competitors. And 747 00:46:02,160 --> 00:46:04,520 Speaker 1: this is how companies like Comcast were able to grow 748 00:46:04,600 --> 00:46:08,360 Speaker 1: so quickly. It wasn't that Comcast was laying cable to 749 00:46:08,440 --> 00:46:11,720 Speaker 1: new communities. It was that Comcast was buying up local 750 00:46:11,760 --> 00:46:15,640 Speaker 1: cable companies and then merging them into Comcasts overall business. 751 00:46:16,160 --> 00:46:19,080 Speaker 1: Mind Spring was effectively doing the same thing, largely in 752 00:46:19,120 --> 00:46:23,440 Speaker 1: the southeastern United States. Mind Spring became a publicly traded 753 00:46:23,440 --> 00:46:27,160 Speaker 1: company in nineteen six, so one year before earth Link 754 00:46:27,200 --> 00:46:32,120 Speaker 1: would do the same. By the various mergers and acquisitions 755 00:46:32,120 --> 00:46:34,520 Speaker 1: meant mind Spring had a total of more than one 756 00:46:34,719 --> 00:46:38,040 Speaker 1: million subscribers in the United States, and it was in 757 00:46:38,160 --> 00:46:41,839 Speaker 1: late nine that mind Spring and earth Link announced an 758 00:46:41,880 --> 00:46:45,000 Speaker 1: intention for the two companies to merge into a new 759 00:46:45,160 --> 00:46:49,200 Speaker 1: single company. This company would keep the earth Link name, 760 00:46:49,520 --> 00:46:53,160 Speaker 1: but it would have its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, so 761 00:46:53,520 --> 00:46:56,879 Speaker 1: the mind Spring headquarters would become the earth Link headquarters. 762 00:46:57,440 --> 00:47:00,879 Speaker 1: The mind Spring stock symbol of MSP e G would 763 00:47:00,880 --> 00:47:03,520 Speaker 1: phase out, and the new company would have the trading 764 00:47:03,520 --> 00:47:07,040 Speaker 1: symbol e l n K for earth Link. The combined 765 00:47:07,080 --> 00:47:09,560 Speaker 1: company would be one of the largest I s p 766 00:47:09,760 --> 00:47:12,560 Speaker 1: s in the world when the merger was complete, the 767 00:47:12,600 --> 00:47:16,799 Speaker 1: second largest, in fact, just behind America Online, which had 768 00:47:16,840 --> 00:47:20,280 Speaker 1: pivoted from being an online service provider to a true 769 00:47:20,640 --> 00:47:24,640 Speaker 1: Internet service provider. In our next episode, we'll learn more 770 00:47:24,640 --> 00:47:28,360 Speaker 1: about earth links fate in the two thousand's, how DSL 771 00:47:28,480 --> 00:47:31,759 Speaker 1: and cable would change the game, and what would lead 772 00:47:31,840 --> 00:47:35,200 Speaker 1: various news outlets to proclaim that earth Link was dead. 773 00:47:35,360 --> 00:47:40,120 Speaker 1: In news flash, It's not dead. I guess it was 774 00:47:40,200 --> 00:47:44,360 Speaker 1: only mostly dead because it's still around today. But that 775 00:47:44,400 --> 00:47:47,239 Speaker 1: will wait for the next full Tech Stuff episode. Now, 776 00:47:47,239 --> 00:47:50,320 Speaker 1: remember tomorrow's episode, We're going to have another dollarp of 777 00:47:50,360 --> 00:47:52,480 Speaker 1: tech news. I'm going to give you a quick rundown 778 00:47:52,520 --> 00:47:54,239 Speaker 1: of some of the headlines of what's going on in 779 00:47:54,280 --> 00:47:57,040 Speaker 1: tech today. Join me then, and if you have a 780 00:47:57,080 --> 00:47:59,520 Speaker 1: suggestion for topics that I should cover on Future Tech 781 00:47:59,520 --> 00:48:03,040 Speaker 1: Stuff EPI zodes, whether they're a specific technology, a company, 782 00:48:03,080 --> 00:48:05,760 Speaker 1: a person, or maybe a trend in tech or anything 783 00:48:05,800 --> 00:48:08,320 Speaker 1: like that, reach out to me. The best ways to 784 00:48:08,400 --> 00:48:11,960 Speaker 1: use Twitter to handle this tech stuff hs W, and 785 00:48:12,000 --> 00:48:19,799 Speaker 1: I'll talk to you again really soon. Text Stuff is 786 00:48:19,800 --> 00:48:23,000 Speaker 1: an I heart Radio production. For more podcasts from I 787 00:48:23,080 --> 00:48:26,680 Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 788 00:48:26,800 --> 00:48:28,800 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.