Editing Demon Internet

{{Short description|British Internet service provider}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2020}}
{{Infobox company
| name           = Demon Internet
| logo           = Demon Internet.png
| logo_size      = 200px
| caption        =
| type           = [[Subsidiary]]
| predecessor    =
| foundation     = 1 June 1992
| location_city  =
| location_country = United Kingdom
| key_people     =
| num_employees  =
| parent         = [[Vodafone Group]]
| industry       = [[Telecommunications industry|Telecommunications]]
| products       = Business [[Landline|fixed line]], Internet services and [[Technical support|IT support]]
| revenue        =
| homepage       = {{url|http://www.demon.net}}
}}

'''Demon Internet''' was a British [[Internet service provider]], initially an independent business, later operating as a brand of [[Vodafone]]. It was [[List of UK ISPs by age|one of the UK's earliest ISPs]], offering [[dial-up Internet access]] services from 1 June 1992. According to the ''[[Daily Telegraph]]'', it "sparked a revolution by becoming the first to provide genuinely affordable access to the internet in the UK".<ref>{{Cite news|publisher=Daily Telegraph|title=Obituary:Cliff Stanford|date=4 March 2022 |page=31|location=London |df=dmy}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Mansell |first1=Robin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VOciwO7I50AC&pg=PA208 |title=Inside the Communication Revolution: Evolving Patterns of Social and Technical Interaction |date=2002 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-829656-0 |pages=208 |language=en}}</ref>

In 1997 Demon was bought by Scottish Telecom, a wholly owned subsidiary of the private utility company [[ScottishPower]]. Scottish Telecom rebranded as [[Thus (company)|Thus plc]] in October 1999 and floated on the [[London Stock Exchange]]. Thus plc fully demerged from ScottishPower in 2002. Thus became part of [[Cable & Wireless plc]], and then part of [[Cable & Wireless Worldwide]] following a split of its parent. The company was purchased as part of the acquisition of [[Cable & Wireless Worldwide]] by [[Vodafone Group]] on 27 July 2012. Demon then operated as a brand of Vodafone.

From 1996 to 2006 Demon operated a subsidiary ISP business in the [[Netherlands]]. It was sold to [[KPN]] in June 2006 and its operations transferred to their [[XS4ALL]] subsidiary.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.xs4all.nl/nieuws/bericht.php?id=763&taal=en |title=XS4ALL company news item |access-date=12 November 2009 |archive-date=28 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628195628/http://www.xs4all.nl/nieuws/bericht.php?id=763&taal=en |url-status=live }}</ref>

In January 2019, Vodafone announced its intention to close Demon and migrate its 15,000 remaining customers to more modern services.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/01/11/vodafone_to_shutter_demon_internet/|title=Begone, Demon Internet: Vodafone to shutter old-school pioneer ISP|first=Andrew|last=Orlowski|date=11 January 2019|website=[[The Register]]|language=en|access-date=2019-02-11|archive-date=12 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190212011905/https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/01/11/vodafone_to_shutter_demon_internet/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==History==
{{more citations needed section|date=February 2014}}
[[File:Demon Internet floppy.jpg|200px|thumb|A setup floppy for the Amiga OS for April 1995.]]
Demon Internet was born out of Demon Systems, a bespoke business software development company formed by [[Cliff Stanford]], Grahame Davies and Owen Manderfield. In a discussion of the need for a home-oriented dialup IP service on the [[CIX (website)|CIX]] 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.

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.

The original Demon service was hosted using mainly Apricot servers including a gigantic pair of LSI towers named "gate" and "post".

When Demon started, [[WinSock]] was still a new concept that was not widely available and [[MS-DOS]] users were generally expected to download Internet connection software based on the [[KA9Q]] implementation of [[Internet protocol suite|TCP/IP]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.leverton.org/blosxom/Software/MSDOS/ka9q.html|title=Configuring and using Demon KA9Q for MS-DOS|work=leverton.org|access-date=12 September 2011|archive-date=25 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120325022311/http://www.leverton.org/blosxom/Software/MSDOS/ka9q.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Other platforms able to connect to the service included [[OS/2 Warp]], [[Amiga]], [[Acorn Archimedes|Archimedes]], [[Atari]], [[Linux]] and [[Mac (computer)|Mac]]. In 1995 the company acquired Chris Hall and Richard Clayton's [[Turnpike (software)|Turnpike]] suite for Windows.

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 ''.demon.co.uk'' domain ''e.g. example.demon.co.uk''.  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.

Demon was the first ISP to pioneer SDU service priced at £10 a month plus [[VAT]] (£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.

Demon Internet received a healthy boost in user numbers when the ''UK Internet Book'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://accounts.google.com/v3/signin/identifier?dsh=S-1643454734%3A1682349378208182&continue=https%3A%2F%2Fsites.google.com%2Fsite%2Fsites%2Fsystem%2Ferrors%2FWebspaceNotFound%3Fpath%3D%2Fsuescho%2F&followup=https%3A%2F%2Fsites.google.com%2Fsite%2Fsites%2Fsystem%2Ferrors%2FWebspaceNotFound%3Fpath%3D%2Fsuescho%2F&ifkv=AQMjQ7QAT8WvmQwSCDRWAzuv9mbFqanKWMemC02kgLBfEDzhBpuInUep7xm3SvnGUujbSjqo0co9&passive=1209600&service=jotspot&flowName=WebLiteSignIn&flowEntry=ServiceLogin|title=Google Sites: Sign-in|website=accounts.google.com|accessdate=24 April 2023|archive-date=24 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230424151807/https://accounts.google.com/v3/signin/identifier?dsh=S-1643454734%3A1682349378208182&continue=https%3A%2F%2Fsites.google.com%2Fsite%2Fsites%2Fsystem%2Ferrors%2FWebspaceNotFound%3Fpath%3D%2Fsuescho%2F&followup=https%3A%2F%2Fsites.google.com%2Fsite%2Fsites%2Fsystem%2Ferrors%2FWebspaceNotFound%3Fpath%3D%2Fsuescho%2F&ifkv=AQMjQ7QAT8WvmQwSCDRWAzuv9mbFqanKWMemC02kgLBfEDzhBpuInUep7xm3SvnGUujbSjqo0co9&passive=1209600&service=jotspot&flowName=WebLiteSignIn&flowEntry=ServiceLogin|url-status=dead}}</ref> 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 [[POP3]] mail option added to the Demon service.  The book sold 15,000 copies {{citation needed|date=April 2018}} of the first print run, many readers subscribing to Demon.

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 [[MMDF]] 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 [[email|mail system]].  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,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ripe.net/participate/meetings/ripe-meetings/ripe-24/attendee-list|title=RIPE 24 Attendees|work=ripe.net|access-date=15 September 2017|archive-date=16 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170916052715/https://www.ripe.net/participate/meetings/ripe-meetings/ripe-24/attendee-list|url-status=live}}</ref> DNS registry communities, e.g. [[.uk#History|.uk]], and emerging open-source development communities<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.faqs.org/faqs/amiga/AmiTCP-faq/|title=AmiTCP FAQ|work=faqs.org|access-date=15 September 2017|archive-date=16 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170916011312/http://www.faqs.org/faqs/amiga/AmiTCP-faq/|url-status=live}}</ref> 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.

Many other key Demon people started out as developers – Giles Todd, Clive Feather, Richard Clayton.

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 [[open source community]] as a means of developing Demon's reputation beyond what its Internet service commanded.

Demon's home-dialup focus was also its Achilles heel.  The company had some exposure after sponsoring [[Fulham F.C.]], but [[British Telecom]] 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, [[Finchley]], 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.

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 [[Pipex]] to Demon.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-3212988.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140315181152/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-3212988.html  |archive-date=2014-03-15 |title=Cityscape drops Pipex for Demon deal |work=Internet Business News |date=3 January 1995 |access-date=15 March 2014}}</ref> On 29 September, they acquired the remaining 75% of the company.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Demon+Internet+Limited+stock+issue+values+Demon+at+26.7+million...-a017638241 |title=Demon Internet Limited stock issue values Demon at 26.7 million pounds |work=[[Business Wire]] |date=17 October 1995 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305092335/http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Demon+Internet+Limited+stock+issue+values+Demon+at+26.7+million...-a017638241 |archive-date=5 March 2016 |access-date=6 June 2011 |via=[[The Free Library]]}}</ref>

Demon's early days are described in an interview with Cliff Stanford published in ''[[The Independent]] ''on 15 January 1996.<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/even-a-millionaire-has-his-demons-1324127.html "Even a millionaire has his demons"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201043832/https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/even-a-millionaire-has-his-demons-1324127.html |date=1 December 2017 }} Retrieved 6 June 2011</ref>

The public telephone number of the company, and many of the dialup access numbers, end with 666 (the supposed [[Number of the Beast (numerology)|Number of the Beast]]), a deliberate [[pun]] on the name ''Demon''.  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 ''dis'', being the initial letters of ''Demon Internet Services'' as well as the name of [[Dis (Divine Comedy)|a part of Hell in Dante's Inferno]] and another name for [[Lucifer]].

{{Expand section|details on the last decade of operations|date=July 2011}}

==Ownership==
In June 2008 [[Cable & Wireless plc]] made a predatory offer for Demon's parent, Thus. On 1 October 2008, Cable & Wireless completed the takeover of Thus.

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 [[Cable & Wireless Worldwide]]. This was purchased by [[Vodafone]] in July 2012 which began integrating the business with its own. Thus and Demon were integrated into Vodafone on 1 April 2013.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://thusebilling.crystalasp.com/thuswebportal/ebillinghelp/newformat.pdf |title=Changes to your invoices |date=April 2013 |publisher=Vodafone |accessdate=17 April 2013 |archive-date=17 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130817004913/https://thusebilling.crystalasp.com/thuswebportal/ebillinghelp/newformat.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

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 migration requests.

==IRC servers==
Demon ran [[IRC servers]] on both the [[IRCnet]] and [[EFnet]] networks from 1993 and on [[QuakeNet]] later on. In 2009, Demon delinked their server from QuakeNet and EFnet.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.quakenet.org/comments.php?sid=0&id=702|title=Demon.uk delinking|work=QuakeNet.org|access-date=22 September 2009|archive-date=18 October 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091018045539/http://www.quakenet.org/comments.php?sid=0&id=702|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://forum.efnet.org/viewtopic.php?t=2491|title=efnet.demon.co.uk and hub.uk delinks - EFnet IRC Network Forum|work=efnet.org|access-date=22 September 2009|archive-date=26 July 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726015844/http://forum.efnet.org/viewtopic.php?t=2491|url-status=live}}</ref>

==See also==
* ''[[Godfrey v Demon Internet Service]]''
* [[Internet in the United Kingdom#Dial-up|Internet in the United Kingdom § History]]
* [[Point-to-Point Protocol]]
* [[Post Office Protocol]]
* [[Serial Line Internet Protocol]]
* [[Simple Mail Transfer Protocol]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:KPN]]
[[Category:Former internet service providers of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:History of the Internet]]
[[Category:Vodafone]]
[[Category:1992 establishments in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:2019 disestablishments in the United Kingdom]]