What is an Internet Service Provider?

Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are companies that are able to provide you with access to the Internet, usually via a computer. Whenever someone mentions their "provider" in relation to the Internet, they are usually talking about their Internet service provider (ISP).

Internet access is made possible by your ISP. You can have a shiny computer with a built-in modem and a router for networking, but without an Internet service provider you won't be able to access the Internet.

ISPs are usually "cable companies" that, in addition to offering a TV subscription, also offer Internet subscriptions, which are usually bundled together for apartment- and home-owners. However, you don't get both for the price of one. It is possible to get just cable TV or just high-speed Internet or both.

You can do everything online through an ISP, such as access the Internet. After your connection is activated and set up, you can send emails, shop online, do research, and more. Internet service providers (ISPs) act as a conduit or link between your computer and all the other "servers" on the Internet. It may feel like you're talking directly to your mom through email, but in reality, you're talking more "indirectly." Your email travels from your computer to the ISP's computers/servers, where it's sent to its destination through other servers on the network.

Obviously, that's the "electronic" path: it's virtually instantaneous.

Every home or organization with Internet access has an Internet service provider (ISP). Communication doesn't have to be through a single ISP, and we don't have to pay a fee to communicate with someone who has a different ISP.

While anyone can have a website, not everyone can be an ISP. This requires money, infrastructure, and a lot of expertise. It employs hundreds of technicians, maintains miles of cabling, and serves hundreds of thousands of subscribers. You usually have a choice of ISPs in your area.

Types of ISPs

There were three types of ISPs in the 1990s: dial-up services, high-speed Internet (also called "broadband") provided by cable companies, and DSL (Digital Line Subscribers) provided by phone companies. The dial-up service was rare in 2013 (despite the fact that it was cheap), as it was very slow...and there were many other ISP options, which were often readily available and much faster.

DSL and Cable.

Verizon and AT&T have been the two leading DSL providers. The growth of cable-based ISPs such as Time Warner and Comcast has been outpacing DSL in the last few years (from 2013). How come? It's because the phone companies have increasingly gotten into the lucrative smartphone business, and sold annual contracts for cellular service along with...smartphone Internet capabilities.

Cable companies are left with most of the broadband business.

Fiber Internet: On its way to you?

With DSL out of the picture, there's room for new technology, and it's already available in some parts of the country: it's called fiber, or fiber optic, broadband. Fiber is supposedly hundreds of times faster than cable or DSL. The news is especially exciting (if it's true and available) for businesses, gamers and households with a lot of simultaneous wireless use.

Verizon (yes, Verizon is downplaying DSL) now offers FiOS in select areas (put an "f" before "eye" and the "os" sound in "most"). FiOS is a fiber optic service that promises super-fast Internet speeds.

Google Fiber, which offers incredible ultra-fast Internet speeds, was launched in 2013 for those of us who are not in Kansas. Other companies (and communities) are joining forces to deliver next-generation broadband to you.