|
Most of you have heard about the Internet and how it is changing the way we live. But, how do you get connected to this thing called the INTERNET?
The simplest way is to call an INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER or ISP.
If you want to get long distance service, you can call AT&T , MCI , SPRINT , GTE and others. These are LONG DISTANCE SERVICE PROVIDERS or LDSP. Everyone of these services also acts as an ISP. They can all provide you with a connection to the Internet. In addition, you can find some other providers in your local area. I looked in the local Winona, MN yellow pages and found under the heading – INTERNET ACCESS PROVIDERS the following: Charter Cable , Qwest, Hiawatha Broadband Communications and Ridge Runner Internet Services.
If you travel a lot and want to be able to connect to the Internet from many locations, you might want to look at one of the national ISP firms such as AT&T or Earthlink.com or PeoplePC. You can also try going to TheList to find other ISP’s that operate in you area.
Most of these companies, except for Charter, offer telephone dial up service. This means that you make sure that your computer has a modem in it. Hopefully you will have a modem that is at the maximum speed available – 56K. After you fill out all the paperwork and pay the monthly fee – usually around $10-20/month for all the access time you want – the ISP will give you installation instructions, a installation disk, a username with its password and a Email address on that providers mail server.
After you get home and have installed the modem and software, you will be surfing the NET in short order. If you only have one phone line into your house, then when you are connected to the Internet you will not be able to answer any incoming phone calls. For this reason, many people put in a second phone line to use on the computer only. When using this dial up method, you will only be connected to the Internet when you DIAL UP the service.
Charter, Hiawatha Broadband and others offer a way for you to be CONTINOUSLY connected to the Internet. They use a box called a CABLE MODEM and a network card. When you use this method of connecting to the Internet, the connection is 24 hours a day. You do not need to install a second phone line. Generally, a cable modem connection will cost somewhere around $30-$40 per month. The increase in speed, is tremendous. Once you have experienced cable modem access, you will not want to go back to dial up access.
If you do not wish to connect to the Internet using a commercial – for pay- web service, you can try going to one of the sights listed at http://www.freecenter.com/dialup.html. This website shows you several dial up ISP’s that will give you “ FREE “ Internet access. The usual downside to this type of service is that you will be looking at a few advertisements while surfing the web and the number to access the net might be a long distance call.. Take a look at http://www.freewwweb.com, they list a few alternative “free” ISP’s.
|
