What is an ISP?
An ISP (Internet Service Provider) offers business and residential customers access to the web vis–vis a service that charges a set rate per month or per year. Over the past five years, as the broadband revolution has taken America by storm, ISPs have proliferated by the dozens across the country. That said, there are just a handful of dominant national ISPs and a host of dozens of small, more local ISPs. Economic pressures have forced some providers to agglomerate and others to capitulate to bigger industry peers. Your ISP will usually offer a slate of accessory services, and you’ll generally have to agree to a Terms of Service policy (also know as a TOS) to gain access. The information that you share with your ISP is nominally confidential, although there have been cases in which ISP providers have handed out customer data to private consumer statistic collection agencies.
If the internet is the information super highway, then ISPs (Internet Service Providers) are the on ramps. They are, in other words, companies that sell access. An ISP is therefore the means by which your computer ‘talks’ to the rest of the world out there in cyberspace. ISPs are also now interchangeably referred to as broadband service providers. Most ISPs resell BT broadband which they purchase wholesale at a discounted rate. Some ISPs are now ‘unbundling the local loop’ and putting their own equipment into BT local exchanges in order to supply their customers. None, so far, have unbundled any exchanges in the Highlands and Islands. < back to guide | >> How do I order broadband?
An ISP is an Inservice Point which equals one (1) contact hour of professional development training. Technically, one (1) contact hour of professional development training is equivalent to a fifty (50) minute session. Ten (10) ISPs equal one (1) CEU. To renew a Professional Certificate, you need 90 ISPs or 9 CEUs accrued within your certification period.
Once upon a time, you could only connect to the Internet if you belonged to a major university or had a note from the Pentagon. Not anymore: ISPs have arrived to act as your (ideally) user-friendly front end to all that the Internet offers. Most ISPs have a network of servers (mail, news, Web, and the like), routers, and modems attached to a permanent, high-speed Internet “backbone” connection. Subscribers can then dial into the local network to gain Internet access–without having to maintain servers, file for domain names, or learn Unix. What is an applet? Applet is a diminutive form of app (application), and it refers to simple, single-function programs that often ship with a larger product. Programs such as Windows’ Calculator, File Manager, and Notepad are examples of applets.
An ISP, or Internet Service Provider, is a company that offers internet access to individuals and businesses for a monthly or yearly fees. In addition to internet connection, ISPs may also provide related services like web site hosting and development, email hosting, domain name registration etc. Different ISPs, and sometimes even the same one, offer different types of internet connections – dialup, cable and DSL broadband. Hardware such as dialup modem or a wireless modem and router are usually provided by the company. When you register with an ISP for its services, an account is created and you are provided with the login details username and password. You connect to the internet via your account and this way the company keeps a watch on your online activities. All providers have strict terms of use and ensure you read these carefully before you sign up though, I believe, the casual web surfer would probably never be in breach of the contract. Any ISP, worth its salt, will also give
