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During 2016–2019, the Demon
Internet service was slowly wound down with a view to migrating customers over to Vodafone branded products, a process that took longer than expected with some customers still being provided with Demon ADSL at the end of May 2019 due to a large backlog in the processing of
391:, and emerging open-source development communities etc. Later Peter Galbavy was brought in to develop solutions for interoperability issues and Ronald Khoo developed low-level networking solutions that allowed the company to run on free operating systems and PC-based hardware.
29:
377:
Thanks to Demon
Systems, Demon Internet always had a strong programming team allowing it to create solutions to emerging issues in-house. All three directors were programmers and Stanford wrote many business-critical pieces of software, writing modules to adapt
416:, north London to lay down additional cables. Demon moved initially to Energis lines with a Regionally Organised Modem Pool (ROMP) and later added Colt lines to the service so they had more control over which lines new customers used over separate 0845 numbers.
382:
to Demon's purposes. Mark Turner, originally one of Demon System's developers, wrote many of the accounts and operational systems. As
Stanford was increasingly absorbed with corporate activities, Neil McRae eventually took over the work on the
447:. When Thus plc was formed as a parent of Demon, its randomly allocated company number also ended in 666. Also, after a spate of "access" related names (e.g. gate, post) many of its original servers' hostnames started with
370:, written by pioneering internet writer Sue Schofield, negotiated with Demon to include a discount coupon in the book for newcomers to Demon. The book needed a change to Demon's mail systems. Schofield demanded and got a
387:. Oliver Smith moved from Systems to Internet to automate services for internal and corporate customers, establish Demon as a technical leader in industry forums such as the RIPE, DNS registry communities, e.g.
363:(£10 only for the founder members), described in the sales literature as a "tenner a month". The low price attracted enough new customers that it was profitable and served to expand Internet usage in the UK.
356:. This allowed users to receive SMTP mail and other IP traffic direct to their computers. It was possible to operate independently of Demon or to make use of Demon's mail, news and IRC servers.
295:
Dismissing the idea that the Demon name might upset those with religious convictions, Cliff
Stanford laughingly said he had considered getting the numbers "666" incorporated in the dial up.
852:
348:
Its first service was the "standard dial-up" (SDU) - full TCP/IP access on a static IP address with a user chosen 4 to 8 character "nodename" (later 3–16 character "hostname") in the
1010:
397:
Armed with so many developers, many of whom made names for themselves within the developing industry, Stanford used the company's ability to contribute its developments to the
412:
were sceptical of Demon's projected growth and did not provide for expansion, resulting in a regular shortage of lines and regular re-digs of the top end of Hendon Lane,
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513:
Cable & Wireless split into two separate businesses on 26 March 2010. Thus and Demon came under the ownership of the original business, which was renamed
1030:
770:
914:
680:
1025:
419:
In 1995, Demon acquired a 25% stake in competing UK Internet provider
Cityscape Internet Services, as part of a deal to move Cityscape's backbone from
292:
boards, Stanford suggested that if 200 people stepped up with a year's subscription, he would use Demon's infrastructure to create such a service.
862:
647:
710:
210:
In
January 2019, Vodafone announced its intention to close Demon and migrate its 15,000 remaining customers to more modern services.
298:
The original Demon service was hosted using mainly
Apricot servers including a gigantic pair of LSI towers named "gate" and "post".
939:
374:
mail option added to the Demon service. The book sold 15,000 copies of the first print run, many readers subscribing to Demon.
521:
in July 2012 which began integrating the business with its own. Thus and Demon were integrated into
Vodafone on 1 April 2013.
627:
887:
977:
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made a predatory offer for Demon's parent, Thus. On 1 October 2008, Cable & Wireless completed the takeover of Thus.
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161:, it "sparked a revolution by becoming the first to provide genuinely affordable access to the internet in the UK".
1015:
559:
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241:
762:
288:, Grahame Davies and Owen Manderfield. In a discussion of the need for a home-oriented dialup IP service on the
907:
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245:
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The public telephone number of the company, and many of the dialup access numbers, end with 666 (the supposed
585:
580:
514:
185:
181:
284:
Demon
Internet was born out of Demon Systems, a bespoke business software development company formed by
164:
In 1997 Demon was bought by
Scottish Telecom, a wholly owned subsidiary of the private utility company
404:
Demon's home-dialup focus was also its Achilles heel. The company had some exposure after sponsoring
482:
140:
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Many other key Demon people started out as developers – Giles Todd, Clive Feather, Richard Clayton.
73:
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Inside the Communication Revolution: Evolving Patterns of Social and Technical Interaction
8:
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following a split of its parent. The company was purchased as part of the acquisition of
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as a means of developing Demon's reputation beyond what its Internet service commanded.
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users were generally expected to download Internet connection software based on the
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Demon's early days are described in an interview with Cliff Stanford published in
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605:"Obituary:Cliff Stanford". London: Daily Telegraph. 4 March 2022. p. 31.
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to Demon. On 29 September, they acquired the remaining 75% of the company.
359:
Demon was the first ISP to pioneer SDU service priced at £10 a month plus
176:. Thus plc fully demerged from ScottishPower in 2002. Thus became part of
534:
405:
196:
853:"Demon Internet Limited stock issue values Demon at 26.7 million pounds"
549:
later on. In 2009, Demon delinked their server from QuakeNet and EFnet.
470:
276:
248: in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
39:
481: with: details on the last decade of operations. You can help by
318:
671:"Begone, Demon Internet: Vodafone to shutter old-school pioneer ISP"
223:
546:
518:
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144:
143:, initially an independent business, later operating as a brand of
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From 1996 to 2006 Demon operated a subsidiary ISP business in the
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Demon Internet received a healthy boost in user numbers when the
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970:"efnet.demon.co.uk and hub.uk delinks - EFnet IRC Network Forum"
341:. In 1995 the company acquired Chris Hall and Richard Clayton's
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on 27 July 2012. Demon then operated as a brand of Vodafone.
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317:. Other platforms able to connect to the service included
305:
was still a new concept that was not widely available and
440:
360:
200:
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Former internet service providers of the United Kingdom
123:
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in June 2006 and its operations transferred to their
997:
280:A setup floppy for the Amiga OS for April 1995.
703:"Configuring and using Demon KA9Q for MS-DOS"
1031:2019 disestablishments in the United Kingdom
155:services from 1 June 1992. According to the
72:
1026:1992 establishments in the United Kingdom
264:Learn how and when to remove this message
668:
622:. Oxford University Press. p. 208.
566:Internet in the United Kingdom § History
275:
615:
998:
823:"Cityscape drops Pipex for Demon deal"
803:from the original on 16 September 2017
773:from the original on 16 September 2017
683:from the original on 12 February 2019
669:Orlowski, Andrew (11 January 2019).
465:
246:adding citations to reliable sources
217:
920:from the original on 17 August 2013
888:"Even a millionaire has his demons"
172:in October 1999 and floated on the
13:
713:from the original on 25 March 2012
14:
1042:
980:from the original on 26 July 2011
861:. 17 October 1995. Archived from
650:from the original on 28 June 2011
457:a part of Hell in Dante's Inferno
16:British Internet service provider
829:. 3 January 1995. Archived from
560:Godfrey v Demon Internet Service
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222:
168:. Scottish Telecom rebranded as
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515:Cable & Wireless Worldwide
186:Cable & Wireless Worldwide
182:Cable & Wireless Worldwide
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586:Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
581:Serial Line Internet Protocol
149:one of the UK's earliest ISPs
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7:
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10:
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908:"Changes to your invoices"
644:"XS4ALL company news item"
545:networks from 1993 and on
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141:Internet service provider
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913:. Vodafone. April 2013.
517:. This was purchased by
508:Cable & Wireless plc
354:e.g. example.demon.co.uk
178:Cable & Wireless plc
99:, Internet services and
1016:History of the Internet
893:1 December 2017 at the
733:"Google Sites: Sign-in"
616:Mansell, Robin (2002).
571:Point-to-Point Protocol
455:as well as the name of
453:Demon Internet Services
153:dial-up Internet access
827:Internet Business News
281:
897:Retrieved 6 June 2011
459:and another name for
399:open source community
279:
174:London Stock Exchange
940:"Demon.uk delinking"
576:Post Office Protocol
525:migration requests.
432:on 15 January 1996.
301:When Demon started,
242:improve this article
763:"RIPE 24 Attendees"
737:accounts.google.com
437:Number of the Beast
345:suite for Windows.
180:, and then part of
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950:on 18 October 2009
313:implementation of
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50:Telecommunications
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629:978-0-19-829656-0
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137:Demon Internet
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982:. Retrieved
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952:. Retrieved
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944:QuakeNet.org
943:
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922:. Retrieved
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873:– via
867:. Retrieved
863:the original
856:
847:
835:. Retrieved
831:the original
826:
817:
807:15 September
805:. Retrieved
796:
793:"AmiTCP FAQ"
787:
777:15 September
775:. Retrieved
766:
757:
745:. Retrieved
741:the original
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717:12 September
715:. Retrieved
707:leverton.org
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685:. Retrieved
676:The Register
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652:. Retrieved
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537:on both the
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443:on the name
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350:.demon.co.uk
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240:Please help
235:verification
232:
209:
207:subsidiary.
194:
163:
156:
136:
135:
82:Headquarters
36:Company type
18:
687:11 February
654:12 November
535:IRC servers
529:IRC servers
406:Fulham F.C.
385:mail system
197:Netherlands
151:, offering
59:1 June 1992
1000:Categories
592:References
533:Demon ran
327:Archimedes
101:IT support
97:fixed line
40:Subsidiary
974:efnet.org
502:Ownership
490:July 2011
319:OS/2 Warp
147:. It was
95:Business
1021:Vodafone
978:Archived
924:17 April
915:Archived
891:Archived
837:15 March
801:Archived
797:faqs.org
771:Archived
767:ripe.net
747:24 April
711:Archived
681:Archived
648:Archived
553:See also
547:QuakeNet
519:Vodafone
414:Finchley
343:Turnpike
170:Thus plc
145:Vodafone
92:Products
46:Industry
461:Lucifer
352:domain
303:WinSock
214:History
119:Website
64:Founder
56:Founded
869:6 June
626:
539:IRCnet
408:, but
315:TCP/IP
307:MS-DOS
205:XS4ALL
126:.demon
108:Parent
70:
918:(PDF)
911:(PDF)
543:EFnet
445:Demon
421:Pipex
335:Linux
331:Atari
323:Amiga
986:2009
956:2009
926:2013
871:2011
839:2014
809:2017
779:2017
749:2023
719:2011
689:2019
656:2009
624:ISBN
541:and
380:MMDF
372:POP3
337:and
311:KA9Q
128:.net
1006:KPN
485:.
449:dis
441:pun
389:.uk
361:VAT
339:Mac
290:CIX
244:by
201:KPN
188:by
124:www
1002::
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825:.
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238:.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
