I started at 1200 baud - I remember buying a 2400 Baud Zoom modem - oh, happy day! BBSs and one computer I could dial into that could send and receive Internet email. I did use an audio coupler a few times, but I never owned one.
Plus FidoNet - anyone remember FidoNet? Request a file, and 2 days later it appears on your computer after bouncing over the country, using only local phone calls. Oh, was that cool. It also had an Internet email gateway, so my email address was something like:
[email protected]. I think it was even longer than that.