---
title: "The internet in 2004"
description: "Facebook launches at Harvard, and Gmail offers a gigabyte as an April Fool. 51,611,646 websites, 2 Mbps at home, and what a download actually took."
url: https://atoneplace.net/internet-in/2004/
site: "At One Place"
---

# The internet in 2004

**The internet in 2004: Facebook launches at Harvard, and Gmail offers a gigabyte as an April Fool.**

51,611,646 hostnames · Broadband at 2 Mbps typical, and dial-up now a minority.

Gmail launched on April Fools' Day offering a gigabyte of free storage when Hotmail offered two megabytes, and a large number of people concluded it was a joke. It was invite-only for three years and the invitations were traded on eBay. Firefox 1.0 broke a browser monopoly that had looked permanent — Internet Explorer had over 90 per cent of the market and had not shipped a meaningful update in years. Facebook was a university directory and required a .edu email address.

## The numbers

- **Websites:** 51,611,646 hostnames responding to HTTP
- **Typical connection:** 2 Mbps — Broadband at 2 Mbps typical, and dial-up now a minority.
- **A gigabyte of storage cost:** $1, in 2004 dollars

## How long things took to download

*Assuming the connection ran at its rated speed throughout, which it did not. Real dial-up throughput after protocol overhead was typically 10 to 20 per cent below the modem's rating.*

| What | At 2 Mbps |
| --- | --- |
| A 3 MB song | 12 seconds |
| A 5 MB photo | 20 seconds |
| A 700 MB CD image | 48 minutes |
| A 4 GB film | 4 hours 40 minutes |
| A 50 GB game | 2.4 days |

## What arrived in 2004

- Facebook, in February, restricted to Harvard
- Gmail, on 1 April
- Firefox 1.0
- World of Warcraft
- Flickr

## The thing people misremember

> Facebook was not open to the public in 2004, or 2005. It required a university email address until September 2006.

## Against the years around it

| Year | Hostnames | Typical speed | $/GB of storage | A 4 GB film took |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2003 | 40,912,332 | 1.5 Mbps | $1 | 6 hours 13 minutes |
| 2004 | 51,611,646 | 2 Mbps | $1 | 4 hours 40 minutes |
| 2005 | 64,780,617 | 3 Mbps | $0.60 | 3 hours 6 minutes |

Between 2004 and 2020 the typical connection went from 2 Mbps to 100 Mbps, a factor of 50, and a gigabyte of storage fell from $1 to $0.020 — a factor of 50. The 4 GB film that took 4 hours 40 minutes takes 6 minutes.

## Common questions

### What was the internet like in 2004?

Facebook launches at Harvard, and Gmail offers a gigabyte as an April Fool. A typical home connection was 2 Mbps, there were about 51,611,646 hostnames responding on the web, and a gigabyte of storage cost $1.

### How long did it take to download a film in 2004?

A 4 GB film at 2 Mbps would have taken about 4 hours 40 minutes, assuming the connection held its rated speed the whole way, which it would not have.

### How many websites were there in 2004?

About 51,611,646 hostnames responded to HTTP. That counts hostnames rather than distinct sites, which is why the figure occasionally falls between years without the web shrinking.

### What do people get wrong about 2004?

Facebook was not open to the public in 2004, or 2005. It required a university email address until September 2006.

## Related pages

- [The internet in 2003](https://atoneplace.net/internet-in/2003/)
- [The internet in 2005](https://atoneplace.net/internet-in/2005/)
- [Every year side by side](https://atoneplace.net/internet-in/)
- [Convert data units](https://atoneplace.net/convert/)

## Sources

- Web Server Survey — Netcraft (https://www.netcraft.com/blog/category/web-server-survey/)
- ICT Facts and Figures / World Telecommunication Indicators — International Telecommunication Union (https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/)
- Historical cost of computer memory and storage — Compiled from contemporaneous retail advertising and manufacturer price lists (/about/)