well, my expirience is the whole internet (in germany at least) was too much expensive.
I started surfing the Internet 94/95 and i call myself an internet pionier

That time I paid each month approx $300 only for the ISP ! $300 more for the phone Company
each month (ok i WAS surfing alot). A total of $600 each month and i'm talking from '94/'95
You see, there was simply no market for an online game, nobody could afford it.
And today it looks better, since februar 2001 first time we have an ISP with a flatfee.
Its still not cheap enough for the mass, but way better then what we had the last years.
btw. what prices did you pay, say 94/95 to be online in the US ?
Gh0stFT