---
title: "The internet in 2007"
description: "The iPhone arrives, and the internet stops being something you sit down for. 121,892,559 websites, 5 Mbps at home, and what a download actually took."
url: https://atoneplace.net/internet-in/2007/
site: "At One Place"
---

# The internet in 2007

**The internet in 2007: The iPhone arrives, and the internet stops being something you sit down for.**

121,892,559 hostnames · Broadband at 5 Mbps at home; mobile data at perhaps 200 kbps and priced per megabyte.

The first iPhone had no app store, no copy and paste, no 3G and no front camera, and it still changed the shape of the industry, because it was the first phone whose browser rendered actual web pages rather than a stripped-down mobile version. Netflix launched streaming as a free extra for DVD subscribers and it was widely regarded as a curiosity. Mobile data was expensive enough that people genuinely worried about loading a web page while out.

## The numbers

- **Websites:** 121,892,559 hostnames responding to HTTP
- **Typical connection:** 5 Mbps — Broadband at 5 Mbps at home; mobile data at perhaps 200 kbps and priced per megabyte.
- **A gigabyte of storage cost:** $0.30, in 2007 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 5 Mbps |
| --- | --- |
| A 3 MB song | 5 seconds |
| A 5 MB photo | 8 seconds |
| A 700 MB CD image | 19 minutes |
| A 4 GB film | 1 hours 52 minutes |
| A 50 GB game | 23 hours 18 minutes |

## What arrived in 2007

- The iPhone, in June
- Tumblr
- Netflix streaming
- The Kindle

## The thing people misremember

> The original iPhone had no App Store. Third-party apps were not permitted at all until July 2008, and Apple's initial position was that web apps were sufficient.

## Against the years around it

| Year | Hostnames | Typical speed | $/GB of storage | A 4 GB film took |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2006 | 85,507,314 | 4 Mbps | $0.40 | 2 hours 20 minutes |
| 2007 | 121,892,559 | 5 Mbps | $0.30 | 1 hours 52 minutes |
| 2008 | 172,338,726 | 7 Mbps | $0.20 | 1 hours 20 minutes |

Between 2007 and 2020 the typical connection went from 5 Mbps to 100 Mbps, a factor of 20, and a gigabyte of storage fell from $0.30 to $0.020 — a factor of 15. The 4 GB film that took 1 hours 52 minutes takes 6 minutes.

## Common questions

### What was the internet like in 2007?

The iPhone arrives, and the internet stops being something you sit down for. A typical home connection was 5 Mbps, there were about 121,892,559 hostnames responding on the web, and a gigabyte of storage cost $0.30.

### How long did it take to download a film in 2007?

A 4 GB film at 5 Mbps would have taken about 1 hours 52 minutes, assuming the connection held its rated speed the whole way, which it would not have.

### How many websites were there in 2007?

About 121,892,559 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 2007?

The original iPhone had no App Store. Third-party apps were not permitted at all until July 2008, and Apple's initial position was that web apps were sufficient.

## Related pages

- [The internet in 2006](https://atoneplace.net/internet-in/2006/)
- [The internet in 2008](https://atoneplace.net/internet-in/2008/)
- [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/)