What are your Options in Connecting with the Internet?
If a person or small business wants to get connected to the Internet, they need an "Internet Service Provider" (ISP) who has the necessary connection to an Internet trunk carrier. ISPs and large organizations can negotiate a multi-thousand dollar contract for a direct connection to an Internet trunk through a wide-area telecommunications service provider. For businesses and people with more modest budgets and requirements, there are still many, many options.
Basic Connectivity Needs - let's review
You need:
- Computer
- Communication software
- Modem
- Physical link to the Internet - phone or other communication system
- Provider for Internet service
There are several levels of service and several types of providers. What does it involve? The levels of service depend on:
- The kind of connection being made:
- Analog (voice) phone connection
- Digital phone connection
- TV Cable
- Wireless
- Satellite
- The degree to which the service provider adds value to the Internet
- Direct Internet connection (the most basic level)
- Filters to prevent access to objectionable materials
- Original content (data or services) available only to subscribers, as on CompuServe, America On Line, etc.
- User support
- Web service hosting
Kinds of Connection
 The
four major types of connection now available are by analog phone,
digital phone, TV cable, and wireless. At present, the most universally
available is analog phone, but other methods are rapidly becoming
more available and affordable. |
Analog
Phone Connection - POTS: Plain Old Telephone Service
Many individuals who connect to the Internet use analog phone connections.
The standard telephone connection uses what is known as analog technology- the original form of electronics used in most radio and stereo components, televisions, and other devices; in contrast with digital technology,which is used in computers and a growing number of other electronic devices, including audio compact discs (CDs), Digital Video (or Versitile) Disks (DVDs), and MP3 audio. When you ask the phone company for "plain old telephone service" (POTS), analog is what you get.
Tip for analog connection users:
If you have "Call Waiting" your modem will be knocked off the line when a call comes in. For each modem call put #70 in front of the number dialed to prevent the call-waiting signal from coming through.Many people prefer the higher speeds of digital connections when they are available, but your normal phone line will usually work for to connect you to the Internet. If you use the Internet a lot, of course, it's useful to have a second phone line installed. If you have trouble with noise (static or interference) on the line, you may need to ask the phone company to investigate and make sure your line is "clean". However, many local phone companies have a policy that normal phone lines are primarily for voice use, so if you want high-speed, clean data transfer they would prefer to offer you a digital (ISDN or ADSL) line - usually more expensive!
Advantages:
- Easily available - uses existing phone lines
- No extra expense unless you decide to add a second line
- Limited in speed to 56 kbps maximum.
- If you have only one phone line, your friends will get lots of busy signals.
The Modem
A modem is needed
to connect your computer's digital circuits with the phone company's analog circuits.
Modems are widely marketed, and their popularity together with competition has
made their prices quite reasonable. Many computers have internal modems - circuit
boards that allow you to plug a phone line into the back of your computer. You
can also get external (separate) modem boxes that plug in to the serial port of
your computer.
About 56 kbps modems: Until late 1997, there were two incompatible types of 56Kbaud modems. This caused lots of headaches for Internet users, until a standard was finally agreed upon - the standard known as V.90. However, all modems faster than 14.4 kbps are designed to slow down when the road is rough - that is, when the phone line isn't quiet enough for them to operate at full speed. Like the super-high speed trains of France and Japan, they depend on excellent infrastructure conditions to run at full speed. From my home, for example, I can't run faster than about 42 kbps because of line conditions.
For more detail on modems, see module series NG30.
To summarize the features of modems you may wish to purchase:
- Speed : 56K-baud is universal. The current standard is V.92
- Fax capability is now almost universal. (This has nothing to do with the Internet: it allows you to use the modem as a "printer" to fax documents from any Windows or Mac software.)
- Internal modems: less expensive, take less space; require opening the computer to install. $10-90.
External modems: more portable and easier to install; add $20-30 to price.
ISDN: Integrated
Services Digital Network
ISDN is a digital connection offered by telephone companies. It allows one
phone line to be used for either:
- Two simultaneous voice or fax calls, or
- One voice/fax and one computer connection at 56.6 kpbs, or
- Two 56.6 kpbs computer connections, or
- One 128 kpbs connection
-
SBC ISDN Information - Pricing information:
Business or
Home
(Verizon is phasing out ISDN and does not offer on-line information about it.)
- Higher speed: 56Kbaud or 128 kpbs
- More reliable transmission than over analog phone lines
- May cost more than analog
- Not available everywhere
- Slower than other digital options
The Modem
ISDN terminal adapters (they aren't really modems, because they don't convert digital to analog) are currently available in the $100-300 range from several vendors.DSL - Digital Subscriber Line
DSL is a newer subscription system offered through existing telephone wires. Like ISDN, it allows your phone line to be shared by voice and data - in other words, you can by talking on the phone at the same time that you're using the Internet with the same line.DSL comes in a several of flavors: "full" (G.dmt) and "lite" (G.lite).The lite version is not as fast and not as costly. Phone companies and other providers sometimes offer several intermediate versions with a variety of other services as part of the marketing "package".
What about the speed? It is very dependent on distance from the phone company's nearest DSL relay station (known as a DSLAM) - and the phone company has to deploy DSL equipment to each area before it can make DSL available there. There are many areas that are just too far away from a DSLAM. To find out if your home or business can use DSL, you may need to give the actual street address to the phone company. Fortunately, many phone companies automate this on their Web sites.
Technically, what most phone companies offer is the "asymmetric" DSL, or ADSL. This means that data doesn't go at the same speed both ways. Since most users typically download much more than they upload, the higher-speed channel is "downstream" - to your computer- and the "upstream" slower channel is the one out from your computer.
For a good overview of DSLs, go to WhatIs: http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci213915,00.html
Advantages
- Much higher speed than analog phone or ISDN
- One phone line for both voice and data
- The connection is always open - you don't have to dial and wait for a connection and handshaking to be completed
Disadvantages
- Higher cost than analog or ISDN
- Can only be installed within a limited distance from the nearest DSLAM.
TV Cable Connections
The TV cable allows very high speed transmission. Speed is the greatest
advantage of cable connection.
There are disadvantages of TV cable networking, too...
- The system generally provides high speed (up to 3,000 K bits/second) downstream- that is, from the Internet to your computer. Upstream, from your computer to the Internet, the speed is much lower (perhaps 128 K bits/second), but still fairly respectable compared with 56K POTS phone modems. This is fine for home use, but makes TV cable unsuitable for organizations that want to host a Web or FTP site.
- The normal cable TV system is set up to provide approximately 3,000 kbps to a neighborhood hub. From this hub, the cable company can provide several households with Internet service - usually 8. However, if each of the 8 households is downloading information from the Internet at the same time, say 7:30p.m., the 3,000 is divided between the 8 users, providing only about 375 kbps to each. Still a respectable speed compared with a 56 K phone connection, but only about 1/8th of what you might be expecting.
For further information about cable connections:
Radio Frequency Wireless Connection
Wireless connectivity is much more common on the local level, where the IEEE 802.11 series of protocols have made it popular to connect laptop and handhelp computers over short distances - usually no more than 100 meters. Using radio frequencies over longer distances is hampered by the crowded radio spectrum in the lower frequencies used by broadcast radio and TV, which are able to transmit over longer distances and penetrate solid obstacles better.
A number of wireless options are available, though none has been totally accepted world-wide or even nation-wide.
- Cell Phone Modem: purchase and install a modem for wireless phones and use it to contact your ISP through your cell phone provider. This involves paying for phone air time as well as ISP charges, and is considerably slower than using a modem over a land-line.
- Wireless ISP: purchase or lease a wireless modem from a provider of wireless Internet services. A major drawback is that multiple short-range transmitter-receivers are needed to provide service for an area. Some providers include:
- Use a free local wireless network, such as ones sponsored by FreeNetworks.org or Open Wireless HotSpots; you can search for wireless "hot spots" (free and subscription-based) on Jiwire , WiFiMaps, or NodeDB.
- Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) wireless solutions are under development. Use a search engine to find the latest news.
Satellite
Still being developed, the possibility of using satellites to link to the Internet has a lot of potential. Currently quite expensive, it is useful mainly to organizations whose staff need world-wide mobility while remaining in contact with the Internet. One widely-available satellite service (linked below) has the disadvantage of working only for data coming from the satellite your computer - you need some other connection to get information back out, since you can't actually transmit from your home or business to the satellite.Hughes Network / DirecPC information (http://www.direcpc.com/)
Faster connections - for organizations
Larger businesses, Internet service providers, and other institutions need faster connections capable of handling multiple users. Typically, that connection will either a T1 or a T3 line. T1 and T3 are designations apparently coined by AT&T / Bell Telephone.T1 : "A digital transmission link with a capacity of 1.544 Mbps.T1 uses two pairs of normal twisted wires, the same as found in most residences.T1 normally handles 24 voice conversations, each one digitized at 64 kbps.But, with more advanced digital voice encoding techniques, it can handle more voice channels. T1 is a standard for digital transmission in the United States. T1 lines are used to connect networks across remote distances." (Quoted from Covad, Inc.'s "Glossary", http://www.covad.com/glossary.cfm .)
T3 : "A T3 line consists of 28 T1 lines or 44.736 million bits per second (commonly referred to as 45 Mbps). A T3 line can handle 672voice conversations. T3 runs on fiber optic and is typically called FT3." (Quoted from Covad, Inc.'s "Glossary", http://www.covad.com/glossary.cfm .)
Summary: Speed chart
To show how these all fit together, this chart summarizes several different access methods and shows their maximum speed.| maximum Speed in kpbs |
direction | |
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| approximate maximum Distance
from telephone exchange |
feet |
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| ADSL full (G.dmt) | |
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| ADSL lite (G.lite) | |
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| Cable (HFC) | |
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| Satellite (DSS) | |
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| ISDN | |
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| 56k -baud modem with POTS | |
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What features are available?
 Once
you decide on a connection, you'll need to find a service provider.
What are the services they can provide you? |
Email accounts
Shell accounts often make electronic mail available, but not all computer
accounts offer access to the Internet. If you want e-mail (and you probably
do!) be sure to check potential service providers about this.
It is also possible to have electronic mail with a PPP account, but again - double-check that the provider offers Internet mail service.
A growing number of businesses offer free e-mail accounts - the hitch is that your email will have their advertisements in it. Here is a list of free email URLs (in no particular order), courtesy of Gleason Sackman's Net Happenings:
- NetForward: http://www.netforward.com
- WWDG Free Email: http://www.wwdg.com/email/
- MyOwnEmail: http://www.myownemail.com/moe3/login/
- Juno: http://www.juno.com
- Net@ddress: http://netaddress.usa.net
- Bigfoot: http://www.bigfoot.com
- POBox: http://pobox.com/pobox/
- POBoxes: http://www.poboxes.com
- Hotmail: http://www.hotmail.com
PPP accounts
Point-to-Point Protocol is a newer way of connecting that allows your
computer to have its own (temporary) Internet address. That way, it can send
and receive packets directly - essential for use of the WorldWide Web in graphical
mode.
To use PPP, your computer needs to have appropriate communication software.This software, often called "stack" software, translates requests from your Web browser, e-mail program, or other application into TCP/IP Internet commands, and handles incoming TCP/IP packets. This software is available free or at low cost in several forms:
- Macintosh: MacTCP is part of Mac Operating System version 7 and higher
- Windows 3.1: WINSOCK.DLL, available from several vendors and as shareware
- Windows 95, 98, and NT: part of the operating system
- OS/2: part of the operating system
Value-Added Service
What is the Value-Added?
Many types of services are added. Recently, as the number of free services on the Internet has grown, value-added providers have found it increasingly difficult to provide enough extra material to make it worthwhile for many subscribers.These are just examples:
- Moderated user discussion groups on a wide range of topics
- On-line shopping
- On-line travel reservations
- Access to proprietary databases
- News and weather feeds that ordinarily charge money
America Online
AOL claims to be the largest value-added computer service provider in the
US. Its strengths include a strong family orientation and support for education.
Discussion groups, especially in the children's and education areas, are closely
monitored to insure healthy discussion.
AOL provides its own access software, but it has a Web site as well.
Visit America Online
CompuServe
CompuServe is one of the original online service providers, and is still growing
strong, though part of is holdings were recently purchased by AmericaOnline.
Its availability in most of the world makes it an attractive service provider
for travelers who need to stay in touch on the Net.
CompuServe currently uses a proprietary access system that works best with CompuServe-specific software like CIM (CompuServe Information Manager).They are in the process of converting to a Web-based format, however.
Visit CompuServe
GEnie
GENie is a service of General Electric. It is one of the smaller value-added
providers.
Visit GEnie
Internet Service Providers (ISPs)
National and International ISPs
These service providers offer dial-in access throughout the United States
and, in some cases, in many other parts of the world as well.Checkout Yahoo's database of service providers
Michigan Regional ISPs
Students at Washtenaw Community College are eligible to use the College's
email and Web service, both on campus and from other locations. Within Michigan,
we can get free access using Michnet's state-wide educational telephone connections.
Check Merit's list ( http://www.merit.edu/phonenos/
)for locations and numbers. (Note: if you are not dialing from the Ann Arbor
area, there is a limited number of connections that can be made to WCC at
any one time.)
Click here for Yahoo's list of Michigan
ISPs
Washtenaw County ISPs
IWorld/Mecklermedia list of
areacode 734 ISPs ,
areacode 248 ISPs , and
areacode 313 ISPs
- This site offers free web pages.
- A list of FreeNets and other Affiliate Systems
Where to get connected to the Internet:
FreeNets and free Web Pages - listing courtesy of Sharon"Teleri" Spanogle
-
Angelfire Communications
-
Freenets and Community
Networks by Peter Scott
-
Organization for Community Networks
Click here for test review questions
Audience:
This is for people who understand the basics of Internet connectivity (see modules NG01c and NG02c ),and who want to learn how to get connected from home or from a small business.Objectives
When you successfully complete this lesson, you will be able to...- Identify the types of Internet access service available
- Describe TCP/IP stack
- Discuss types of connection to the Internet (POTS, ISDN, (A)DSL, T1, T3,TV cable)
- Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each type of service provider
- Locate the major national, regional, and local service providers
About this document...
Module : NG10c Internet Connection Options
- Author:
- Laurence J. Krieg
- Institution:
- Department of Computer Information Systems, Internet Professional Department; Washtenaw Community College
- History:
- Original: 30 Sep 1996
Latest revision: Monday, 31-Aug-2009 11:47:59 EDT - Copyright:
- Copyright © 1996-2005, Laurence J.
Krieg, Washtenaw Community College.
Instructors: You may point to this file in your Web-based materials.
Students: you may make a copy for your personal use.
All other uses: contact the author, Laurence J. Krieg for permission.
