In today’s fast-paced Internet world, it’s hard to imagine that only 20 years ago Monday, territorial residents were introduced to this electronic marvel at a public meeting held at Bluebeard’s Castle Hotel. At the time, Peter de Blanc of Octagon Consultants and his team unveiled dial-up Internet access called the V.I.P. FreeNet. The name aptly describes it, and it was free to anyone who signed up.

“I thought it was the greatest thing since the zipper, and it certainly changed life in the Virgin Islands,” St. John resident Robert Charleston, who signed up as customer 134 at that meeting, said.

Dotty Sparks de Blanc, Peter de Blanc, Steve Pitzl and Jonathan Bartsch were the movers and shakers that got the project off the ground. Other businesses and people contributed equipment, funds and effort.

With eight modems at the FreeNet office in Royal Dane Mall, the service began connecting Virgin Islands residents to the broader world.

Sparks de Blanc said she’s amazed at how rapidly the Internet took hold. “It’s mind blowing,” she said.

Sparks de Blanc said Peter de Blanc wanted to “level the playing field” for the residents so they could access things like The New York Times online instead of paying $12 for the Sunday edition. Additionally he made Internet accessible to people on other Caribbean, she said.

She forwarded a paper written in 1995 by Peter de Blanc outlining the FreeNet origins and growth. It indicates that in the first month of operation, 162 people signed up. By the end of April 1995, the number stood at 1,143.

Then Gov. Roy L. Schneider was the first to sign up and get an email address. His was [email protected] and, to mark his first 100 days in office, he published his speech online via the FreeNet.

After Hurricane Marilyn hit later that year, Sparks recalled that the Internal Revenue Bureau was unable to come up with tax forms because the Internal Revenue Service said they had to download them from its website. With no Internet hookup, IRB officials used the Internet at the FreeNet office to gain access.

Before the FreeNet, dial up Internet access was possible at a stiff price. The cost to reach a mainland Internet Service Provider like Compuserve or what was then called America Online, now AOL, meant long-distance phone charges at 25 cents per minute.

The FreeNet was text only, a far cry from today’s graphics laden web pages.

Sparks de Blanc said she couldn’t recall when the FreeNet closed down, but said by then only three people were still using the free service. The rest had signed on to commercial Internet providers.

She said they closed it down because the disk that had the FreeNet software needed replacing. It came from the Cleveland FreeNet, and they had stopped using it.