April 30, 1995

NSFNET

The NSFNET Backbone Service is decommissioned

The celebrated "privatization of the Internet" shut down one backbone — and the National Science Foundation predicted most users would notice no change in service or price.

Midnight, 30 April 1995

At midnight on 30 April 1995, the National Science Foundation decommissioned the NSFNET Backbone Service after a two-year transition of its commodity backbone functions to commercial providers. The shutdown applied to that dedicated NSF-funded backbone, not to the Internet as a whole.

NSFNET connected about 2,000 computers in 1986 and more than two million by 1993, and its backbone eventually reached 45 megabits per second. Merit Network had managed it since 1987 in partnership with IBM and MCI.

No single successor

U.S. Internet traffic moved among several privately operated backbones rather than through one replacement owner or system. By summer 1995 there were at least 14 commercial or other high-speed national and super-regional TCP/IP networks.

NSF's announcement said most consumers would experience no change in service or fees as a direct result of the backbone shutdown.

What NSF kept paying for

NSF continued subsidising regional research and education networks on a declining scale — 100% in the first year, then 75%, 50% and 25%. It estimated the average research or educational institution would face roughly $1,500 in additional annual connectivity cost.

The foundation also funded the vBNS research backbone, institutional and international connections, InterNIC and networking research. The government did not stop funding the Internet on 30 April.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 6 sources 2 audit passes, 1 issue open

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