<P> Public commercial use of the Internet began in mid-1989 with the connection of MCI Mail and Compuserve 's email capabilities to the 500,000 users of the Internet . Just months later on 1 January 1990 , PSInet launched an alternate Internet backbone for commercial use ; one of the networks that would grow into the commercial Internet we know today . In March 1990 , the first high - speed T1 ( 1.5 Mbit / s ) link between the NSFNET and Europe was installed between Cornell University and CERN , allowing much more robust communications than were capable with satellites . Six months later Tim Berners - Lee would begin writing WorldWideWeb , the first web browser after two years of lobbying CERN management . By Christmas 1990 , Berners - Lee had built all the tools necessary for a working Web : the HyperText Transfer Protocol ( HTTP ) 0.9 , the HyperText Markup Language ( HTML ) , the first Web browser ( which was also a HTML editor and could access Usenet newsgroups and FTP files ) , the first HTTP server software ( later known as CERN httpd ) , the first web server , and the first Web pages that described the project itself . In 1991 the Commercial Internet eXchange was founded , allowing PSInet to communicate with the other commercial networks CERFnet and Alternet . Since 1995 the Internet has tremendously impacted culture and commerce , including the rise of near instant communication by email , instant messaging , telephony ( Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP ) , two - way interactive video calls , and the World Wide Web with its discussion forums , blogs , social networking , and online shopping sites . Increasing amounts of data are transmitted at higher and higher speeds over fiber optic networks operating at 1 - Gbit / s , 10 - Gbit / s , or more . </P>
<P> Public commercial use of the Internet began in mid-1989 with the connection of MCI Mail and Compuserve 's email capabilities to the 500,000 users of the Internet . Just months later on 1 January 1990 , PSInet launched an alternate Internet backbone for commercial use ; one of the networks that would grow into the commercial Internet we know today . In March 1990 , the first high - speed T1 ( 1.5 Mbit / s ) link between the NSFNET and Europe was installed between Cornell University and CERN , allowing much more robust communications than were capable with satellites . Six months later Tim Berners - Lee would begin writing WorldWideWeb , the first web browser after two years of lobbying CERN management . By Christmas 1990 , Berners - Lee had built all the tools necessary for a working Web : the HyperText Transfer Protocol ( HTTP ) 0.9 , the HyperText Markup Language ( HTML ) , the first Web browser ( which was also a HTML editor and could access Usenet newsgroups and FTP files ) , the first HTTP server software ( later known as CERN httpd ) , the first web server , and the first Web pages that described the project itself . In 1991 the Commercial Internet eXchange was founded , allowing PSInet to communicate with the other commercial networks CERFnet and Alternet . Since 1995 the Internet has tremendously impacted culture and commerce , including the rise of near instant communication by email , instant messaging , telephony ( Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP ) , two - way interactive video calls , and the World Wide Web with its discussion forums , blogs , social networking , and online shopping sites . Increasing amounts of data are transmitted at higher and higher speeds over fiber optic networks operating at 1 - Gbit / s , 10 - Gbit / s , or more . </P>
when did the internet become available to the general public
when did the internet become available to the general public
mid-1989
mid-1989