Minitel, anyone?

Back in 1991-1996 when I was a student in France, Internet was not as popular as today yet.
But we had another thing that seem to function like Teletext which was as popular as Internet today. It was called Minitel.

3615 3SUISSES, 3615 ULLA. Still remember?


You might not know this if you were not there in the eighties or nineties. Honestly, I never know how to use it. Even though I've tried soo many times. Believe me, I've tried so hard :)

Wikipedia describe Minitel as a "Videotex online service accessible through the telephone lines, and is considered one of the world's most successful pre-World Wide Web online services. It was launched in France in 1982 by the PTT (Poste, Téléphone et Télécommunications; divided since 1991 between France Télécom and La Poste). From its early days, users could make online purchases, make train reservations, check stock prices, search the telephone directory, and chat in a similar way to that now made possible by the Internet."

You need to register to France Telecom in order to benefit from Minitel. If you registered to it, you would receive a small computer box called a Minitel to connect to the provider's server. You would be able to check your exam results, buy some train tickets online, or go to sex sites (the last one created a lot of fortune for France Telecom).

The access code, just like the WWW-dot or HTTP-whatever, would be 3615-something : 3615 Post Office, or 3615 Phone Sex, 3615 This, 3615 That... At that time, if you were an avid Minitel user, you can find almost anything through Minitel.