Page "Bulletin board system" Paragraph 9

With the original 110 and 300 baud modems of the late 1970s, BBSes were particularly slow and file transfers were typically limited to text files ( lists of BBS systems were a common example ) and small software applications, typically terminal programs for accessing BBSes.

Speed improved with the introduction of 1200 bit / s modems in the early 1980s, and this led to a substantial increase in popularity.

The demand for complex ANSI and ASCII screens and larger file transfers taxed available channel capacity, which in turn propelled demand for faster modems.

1200 gave way to 2400 fairly rapidly, followed by a delay before 9, 600 became common.

9, 600 was not even established as a strong standard before 14. 4 kbit / s took over.

Another delay followed due to a long standards process before 28. 8 was released, only to be quickly replaced by 33. 6.