Internet Access

Internet Access

Internet Access is affected by several factors:

Three are three widely used categories:

College and Universities - some colleges and universities provide free access to the Internet through their local area networks.
Internet Service Providers - offer access to the Internet for a fee. Internet Service Providers can be national or local. Best known national ISPs are:
Online Service Providers - provide access to the Internet and a variety of other services for a fee. Examples are:

Direct or dedicated link
- The most efficient access method.
- Expensive and rarely used by individuals,
- Used mostly by organizations such as colleges, universities, service providers, and corporations.
SLIP and PPP
- Widely used by end users to connect to the Internet.
- Slower and less convenient than direct connection.
- Uses modems and telephone lines to connect to a provider that has a direct connection to the Internet.
- Requires special software protocols: SLIP (serial line Internet protocol) or PPP (point-to-point protocol)
Terminal connection
- Also uses modems and telephone lines.
- Your computer becomes part of a terminal network.
- Your computer's operations are very limited it act as a dummy terminal that displays information from the host computer.

This is the standard protocol for the Internet. It contain the rules for communicating over the Internet.

Originally developed for the U.S. department of defense by ARPA.
Controls how messages are broken down, sent, and reassembled.
Messages are broken down into small pieces called packets before they are sent over the Internet.
Each packet is sent separately, possibly traveling different routes to a common destination.
The packets are then reassembled into correct order at the receiving computer.