Internet access was never free; it always cost money.

Judge as of June 1995. Read in context as a claim that internet access always cost someone money, i.e. was never free (funded by governments, universities or users). True: historical evidence shows internet access through 1995 was always paid for by some party (ARPA/NSF funding, institutional fees, commercial ISP charges). Mostly true: this is generally so but with minor exceptions (e.g. free community Freenets) that do not undercut the point. Mixed: free access, at no cost to anyone involved, was significant enough to undercut the claim partly. Mostly false or false: substantial evidence shows widely available genuinely free internet access. If the context shows a narrower meaning (e.g. 'free to end users'), judge it on that meaning, recognizing that many university users paid nothing directly.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Free-Net History: The Rise and Fall of Community Dial-Up Tedium · 13 April 2022

   “In the '80s, a defining online phenomenon—being able to use the internet for free—came from (of all places) Cleveland.”

2. E2 Free-Net History: The Rise and Fall of Community Dial-Up Tedium · 13 April 2022

   “This created a clear dichotomy—while Free-Nets offered free internet, it was not the version of the internet people were talking about, the one with the web.”

3. E3 Guide to Internet Access In Southern California Los Angeles Times · 27 September 1995

   “Services/Prices: PPP: $15 annual fee, $15 for graphic interface, unlimited hrs., sessions restricted to 1 hr. e-mail, USENET.”

4. E4 Guide to Internet Access In Southern California Los Angeles Times · 27 September 1995

   “Services/Prices: Shell, SLIP: $25 set-up fee, $19.95/mo. for 40 peak hrs., $2 each addit’l peak hr, unlimited non-peak hrs.; UUCP; e-mail; FTP; USENET”

E3 and E4 are 1995 listings from Southern California internet providers, and both show charges: annual fees, set-up fees and monthly fees. That supports the claim that someone generally paid for access. E1 and E2 show one exception. Community Free-Nets, which started in Cleveland in the 1980s, let people use the internet at no charge, though E2 says this "was not the version of the internet people were talking about, the one with the web." The resolution criteria name Free-Nets as an example of a minor exception that does not undercut the claim, so the verdict is mostly true.