In the late 90s to 2001? Many people were still using modems at that time. Cable or DSL wasn't even an option for a considerable percentage of the population.
In 2002 I was woking making webs and setting up linux servers and I did not have internet at home.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/189349/us-households-hom...
Low Global Penetration: Only 361 million people had internet access worldwide in 2000, a small fraction of the global population. Specific Country Examples United States: The US had a significant portion of the world's internet users, making up 31.1% of all global users in 2000. Its penetration rate was 43.1%.
It had the Microsoft network or whatever it was called.