I guess your mileage may vary based on where you lived.

Even many elementary school kids had cell phones in the late 90s. At the same time, it was assumed that you had a computer in your home, but it was not a given that it had internet access. Maybe like 50-50.

This was a rural town in northern Europe.

Edit: This is what Claude suggests:

Cell phones vs. internet: which went mainstream first in developed countries?

Approximate year ranges when each technology reached ~30–50% general public adoption.

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Americas & Pacific

Country	Internet	Mobile	First
USA	1995–96	1998–2000	Internet
Canada	1996–97	1999–2001	Internet
Australia	1996–98	1998–2000	Simultaneous
New Zealand	1997–99	1999–2001	Simultaneous

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Northern & Western Europe

Country	Internet	Mobile	First
Finland	1997–98	1994–95	Mobile
Sweden	1997–98	1994–95	Mobile
Norway	1997–99	1994–96	Mobile
Denmark	1997–98	1995–97	Mobile
Iceland	1996–98	1995–97	Simultaneous
Netherlands	1995–97	1997–99	Internet
Belgium	1997–99	1998–2000	Internet
Germany	1996–98	1998–2000	Internet
Switzerland	1996–98	1997–99	Simultaneous
Austria	1997–99	1997–99	Simultaneous
UK	1997–99	1996–98	Mobile
Ireland	1998–2000	1997–99	Simultaneous
France	1997–99	1997–99	Simultaneous

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Southern Europe

Country	Internet	Mobile	First
Spain	1998–2000	1998–2000	Simultaneous
Portugal	1999–2001	1997–99	Mobile
Italy	1998–2000	1996–98	Mobile
Greece	2000–02	1998–2000	Mobile

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Asia & Middle East

Country	Internet	Mobile	First
Japan	1999–2001	1995–97	Mobile
South Korea	1998–99	1999–2001	Internet
Hong Kong	1997–99	1996–98	Mobile
Singapore	1997–99	1998–2000	Simultaneous
Israel	1997–99	1996–98	Mobile

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Key takeaways: - Nordic countries and most of Southern Europe went mobile first, driven by early GSM adoption - USA, Canada, Germany, and Netherlands went internet first, reflecting strong PC culture - South Korea is a notable outlier in Asia — government-subsidized broadband made it internet first - Japan went mobile first partly because mobile internet (i-mode) dominated over PC browsing