I couldn't afford a modem, so when an opportunity arose to grab a (then top of the line, newest on the market) Hayes 2400 baud ISA card off an unguarded shelf i had to. Them folks shoulda been less dismissive of a goofy teen asking for a job, anyway. Wikipedia says "Hayes introduced its v.22bis Smartmodem 2400 at US$549 in 1985" and it wasn't long after that.
The phone bills of $0.05/minute and up (and up and up!) were insupportable quickly on my previous budget so some neighbors donated phone lines occasionally; after a few months I'd learned enough and networked enough to get consulting jobs that paid for my phone bills.
One of the things I loved was seeing the wide variety of people talking to each other without regard for "who they are" vs "what are they saying". Getting people out of their bubbles. I liked to help people start "affinity" group BBS systems then link them to wider nets and watch them bloom.