It was 1994.

We're a 2-man crew, about to start one of America's biggest ISP's.

We'd just gotten the closet cleared, the racks assembled, the modems installed, the terminal server wired up, the USENET machine booted, and we're waiting for the T1 to go live. The modems are answering calls, but there's nowhere for our new subscribers to go .. yet.

The tech line rings, its the T1 guy on the other end "Ready to configure your router with you if you're ready .. "

Sure, I say .. whats our IP address ..

"198.162 .. "

"WAIT!", I say. "Are you SURE about that?"

He sure was.

The line comes up, the routes flow, customers get online for their first time.

But for months afterwards I was constantly in fear of our IP address.

Junior network guys would call me up in the middle of the night, adding some NOC somewhere or other "it doesn't work!" - "did you mix a 2 and an 8?", I'd say .. and much swearing would be heard until things started working again.

Man, that was fun. Getting that IP address assigned to us definitely was an act of mischief on the part of some devil somewhere, I'm quite sure ..

Hooking up that first T1 was super exciting! I worked at an early ISP (not a big one) in 1995. They were still on a 56K dedicated line and a very small bank of modems. I still remember when the guy from MCI showed up to test the new T1 we were getting. The first frame relay customers I brought up were also super fun. I sometimes miss networking.

Oh wow. Genuine question - if you could go back, would you go through the hassle of getting a different one assigned?