Internet Service Provider (ISP)

Details - Frequently Asked Questions - Anecdotes - Links to other sites

 
Definition
An Internet Service Provider is an organisation that offers Internet services including connection to the Internet and Web site hosting. Internet Service Providers are referred to as ISP's
Discussion
An ISP will own one or more computers that are permanently connected to the Internet. These computers are used:
to provide a connection to Internet users. The user connects to the ISP computer and through it has access to the entire Internet
 
to store Web sites. The Web site owner creates the Web pages and transfers them to the ISP computer. Since this computer is permanently connected to the Internet any Internet users can access the Web site at any time. Thus the Web site owners do not have to incur the expenses of maintaining a machine permanently on the Internet.
There are many ISP's - over 200 in the UK alone. Some are small and local, some operate throughout the country, some operate throughout the world.
More Details (sometimes Technical)
Coming soon
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I choose an Internet Service Provider? This is not easy. There is a big choice and the scene is constantly changing. The issues you need to concern yourself with include:
how much will it cost me? There is a monthly fee but some charge more based on how many hours you are connected. You also want to ensure that you can connect at local telephone charge rates from wherever you want to use the Internet.
 
what are my chances of getting connected? Some service providers have too many users trying to connect to too few ports on the ISP's computers.
what speed of access will I get? This will depend on whether the ISP can take full advantage of the speed of your modem (if you have a fast one), how big a connection the ISP has to the Internet, how many other users will be sharing that connection with you
 
what level of support do they give? If you have trouble getting connected, can you get through a support person and does the support person speak in plain English or Internetspeak?

Having said all this, how do you find out which ISP's are best? As with anything, talk to your colleagues to see who they are happy with - use the above checklist to ensure that your colleague is not overlooking anything. If this desn't provide the answer, look in the back of the Internet magazines - some of them publish a list showing how the ISP's have performed over the previous month.

Anecdotes
None yet
Links to other sites
None yet


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Last updated: 12 May 2000

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