---
title: "The internet in 2018"
description: "GDPR arrives, and every website in the world grows a cookie banner. 1,630,322,579 websites, 70 Mbps at home, and what a download actually took."
url: https://atoneplace.net/internet-in/2018/
site: "At One Place"
---

# The internet in 2018

**The internet in 2018: GDPR arrives, and every website in the world grows a cookie banner.**

1,630,322,579 hostnames · Broadband at 70 Mbps.

GDPR came into force on 25 May, and the visible consequence was that every site began asking permission to track. The regulation does not require a banner — it requires a lawful basis for processing, and most sites could have simply stopped tracking — but asking was easier than stopping. The Cambridge Analytica reporting in March had, two months earlier, made the case for the regulation better than any advocate had managed.

## The numbers

- **Websites:** 1,630,322,579 hostnames responding to HTTP
- **Typical connection:** 70 Mbps — Broadband at 70 Mbps.
- **A gigabyte of storage cost:** $0.025, in 2018 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 70 Mbps |
| --- | --- |
| A 3 MB song | 0 seconds |
| A 5 MB photo | 1 seconds |
| A 700 MB CD image | 1 minutes |
| A 4 GB film | 8 minutes |
| A 50 GB game | 1 hours 40 minutes |

## What arrived in 2018

- GDPR enforcement, on 25 May
- A cookie consent banner on approximately everything

## The thing people misremember

> GDPR does not mandate cookie banners. It requires consent for non-essential tracking, and a site that does not track needs no banner at all. The banners are what organisations chose over not tracking.

## Against the years around it

| Year | Hostnames | Typical speed | $/GB of storage | A 4 GB film took |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 2016 | 1,045,534,808 | 50 Mbps | $0.030 | 11 minutes |
| 2018 | 1,630,322,579 | 70 Mbps | $0.025 | 8 minutes |
| 2020 | 1,295,973,827 | 100 Mbps | $0.020 | 6 minutes |

Between 2018 and 2020 the typical connection went from 70 Mbps to 100 Mbps, a factor of 1, and a gigabyte of storage fell from $0.025 to $0.020 — a factor of 1. The 4 GB film that took 8 minutes takes 6 minutes.

## Common questions

### What was the internet like in 2018?

GDPR arrives, and every website in the world grows a cookie banner. A typical home connection was 70 Mbps, there were about 1,630,322,579 hostnames responding on the web, and a gigabyte of storage cost $0.025.

### How long did it take to download a film in 2018?

A 4 GB film at 70 Mbps would have taken about 8 minutes, assuming the connection held its rated speed the whole way, which it would not have.

### How many websites were there in 2018?

About 1,630,322,579 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 2018?

GDPR does not mandate cookie banners. It requires consent for non-essential tracking, and a site that does not track needs no banner at all. The banners are what organisations chose over not tracking.

## Related pages

- [The internet in 2016](https://atoneplace.net/internet-in/2016/)
- [The internet in 2020](https://atoneplace.net/internet-in/2020/)
- [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/)