I had to pay hourly for CRIS BBS Direct's 1-800 dialup because everything was long distance to me, and keep detailed usage records so I didn't exceed my teenage income. 25 hours of Internet usage in a month was "a lot" then, now I think I use it 18 hours a day.

Dialing up every morning, exchanging QWK/REP files, getting off as soon as possible was my first forte into scripting things.