dsl high speed internet service

An Internet service provider (ISP) is a business or organization that offers users access to the Internet and related services. Many but not all ISPs are telephone companies. They provide services such as Internet transit, domain name registration and hosting, dial-up access, leased line access and colocation.

ISP connection options

Generally, an ISP charges a monthly access fee to the consumer. The consumer then has access to the Internet for an un/limited number of hours, although the speed at which this data is transferred varies widely.

Internet connection speed can generally be divided into two categories: dialup and broadband. Dialup connections require the use of a phone line. Broadband connections can be either ISDN, Broadband wireless access, Cable modem, DSL, Satellite or Ethernet. Broadband is always on, and varies in speed between 64Kb and 20+Mb per second.

In the early 2000s, ISPs in the United States faced serious challenges. Telecommunications and IT-related stocks fell sharply, and many ISPs were forced to close, restructure, sell, or merge. Some telcos like Worldcom were spectacular collapses. The slower-than-expected growth of broadband services and key decisions on broadband open access matters all added to the industry's problems.

By late 2005 a 1Mb connection was being described as slow within the United Kingdom. Many modern software add ons demand minimum speeds of 256K or 512K. With the increasing popularity of file sharing and downloading music and the general demand for faster page loads, higher bandwidth connections are becoming more popular.

Virtual ISP

A Virtual ISP (vISP) re-sells to the general public Internet access purchased from a wholesale dsl high speed internet service rates ISP. The vISP's role is to provide any services beyond Internet connectivity, such as e-mail, web hosting, and technical support. The vISP must perform all authentication and accounting functions necessary to provide access and then bill their users access service internet speed dsl high idsl cable options for it. This model allows for larger ISPs to increase returns on their investment into what is generally a geographically large, high capacity network, a network which smaller ISPs, as customers of the larger ISP, can use to serve customers in locations that would previously have been unavailable to them.

Other relevant acronyms

• IAP (Internet Access Provider)
  
• NSP (Network Service Provider)

Related services

• Broadband access
  
  
  
  • Digital Subscriber Line
    
  • Fixed wireless access
    
  • Cable
    
  • Triple play
  
  
• Web hosting services
  
• Usenet servers
  
• Email services
  
• DNS
  
  
  
  • Dynamic DNS

See also

• Peering
  
• Telco
  
• Bandwidth cap

External links

• ISP Speed Test Provides a tool to test the speed of the ISP you reside on.
  
• ADSL Guide Provides comparisons of ISP's for the United Kingdom.
  
• ISP Directory - helping Consumers with ISPs since 1998
  
• High Speed Internet explained The Internet Provider - Provides the tools to understand the offerings by today's high speed internet services.

Free ISP Listings

• Free Internet A list of free Internet service providers around the world
  
• Cheap and Free ISP Isp directory listing free and budget dial-up ISPs as well as DSL, Satellite and cable modem access providers.
  
• WeLoveFreebies.com Directory offering free internet service providers
  
• ISP Comparison An ISP Directory