Internet access

The Internet: Access

Internet Service Provider (ISP)

The most common way to access the Internet from home is with a modem and a phone call to an Internet Service Provider (ISP). Your computer connects via modem to the ISP, which in turn is connected to the Internet with a high-speed link.

Most ISP's provide more than a simple connection from your computer to the Internet. They typically also include such services as:

an email account for you to send and receive electronic mail
access to Internet newsgroups
a personal Web page

These additional services are provided on the ISP's computers, since they need to be available even when your computer isn't connected to the Internet.

Modems

The word MODEM is an acronym for MOdulator-DEModulator. Information that is stored in a computer is digital, when it travels over telephone or cable lines, it needs to be converted into an analog signal and then back into digital when it reaches another computer. To do this, a modem that is specific to the type of connection is required. Modems can either be inside a computer’s tower (internal) or it may be outside (external). Check out these sites to learn more:

Learn the Net, All About Modems
Curt’s High Speed Modem Page, Modem FAQ

The need for speed

Currently cable lines are faster than telephone lines because they use a carrier wave allowing digital and analog signals to be sent along the same wire. The competition between cable companies and telephone companies to provide Internet access has caused a surge in the improvement of modems and connections and a decrease in their prices. Speed on the Internet is dependent on several things. First, of course, there is the speed of your modem. This is usually expressed in bits per second (bps) or kilobits per second (kbps or just K), it is similar to kilometers per hour when driving in a car, the higher the number, the faster you can go. The popular modems are at the following speeds: § 28 800 bps or 28.8 K § 36 600 bps or 36.6 K § 56 000 bps or 56 K Modems do not always receive or transmit information at their top speeds however. Another factor that affects speed is the speed of the modem that the information is coming from or going to. It is similar to driving; you may have a Viper that can go over 200 km/hour but if there is a car in front of you going only 100 km/hour you can not go any faster. And finally, speed on the Internet is dependent on how many people are on the same lines as you. Again, to use a traffic analogy, while driving on an empty road you could go faster than during rush hour when cars are bumper to bumper. Many telephone companies also offer a high-speed Internet access. This is when a phone company installs a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) modem on your computer and they connect the modem to a separate line (usually fiber-optic) that is used only for Internet access. DSL modems are the fastest telephone line modems and reach speeds of over 1.5 megabits per second (Mbps) that’s 1500 kbps! Because of this modem speed and the decrease in traffic on these lines it is referred to as high-speed Internet access.

Gateway access

This is the most basic level of access. The user dials into an interactive system offered by a service provider using a modem and a telephone line. The user's computer behaves as if it were a terminal connected to the service provider's computer. This type of access is also referred to as command line access. This type of access offers what is primarily a text-based view of the Internet. What the user can do is limited by what the service provider makes available. This kind of connection is relatively cheap and works reliably from any kind of computer because specialized software is not needed. Gateway access easily accomplishes the sending and receiving of e-mail and accessing online bulletin boards. It is even possible to access the World Wide Web using a text-based browser such as Lynx; however, this is not recommended since a lot of the content on the Web incorporates graphics and other multimedia elements.

Dial-up access

With Dial-up Access, the user's computer is connected to an ISP using a modem and a telephone line. The difference from Gateway Access lies in the fact that the programs that are used to access the Internet (such as a Web browser) reside on the user's computer. Using a special set of communication protocols such as SLIP (Serial Line Internet Protocol) and PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol), the user's computer behaves exactly as if it were directly connected to the Internet. This means that the user can run any client software that can be used on the Internet and can access multiple sites at the same time.

Direct access

This is similar to dial-up access but with direct access your computer is directly wired into the Internet using cable lines or high-speed telephone lines and is online twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. This kind of connection is extremely fast, and although it was usually only available from a school, university or corporation it is now more common in people’s homes.