The Internet is the world’s most extensive public communication system. It’s also the world’s largest implementation of client/server computing and internetworking, linking millions of individual networks all over the world.
This global network of networks began in the early 1970s as a U.S. Department of Defense project to link scientists and university professors around the world.
Most homes and small businesses connect to the Internet by subscribing to an Internet service provider. An Internet service provider (ISP) is a commercial organization with a permanent connection to the Internet that sells temporary connections to retail subscribers. EarthLink, NetZero, and AT&T are ISPs. Individuals also connect to the Internet through their business firms, universities, or research centers that have designated Internet domains.
There is a variety of services for ISP Internet connections. Connecting via a traditional telephone line and modem, at a speed of 56.6 kilobits per second (Kbps), used to be the most common form of connection worldwide, but high-speed broadband connections have largely replaced it. Digital subscriber line, cable, satellite Internet connections, and T lines provide these broadband services.
Digital subscriber line (DSL) technologies operate over existing telephone lines to carry voice, data, and video at transmission rates ranging from 385 Kbps all the way up to 3 Mbps, depending on usage patterns and distance. Fios (Verizon’s fiber optic cable service) can deliver over 900 Mbps, although most home service delivers 100 Mbps. Cable Internet connections provided by cable television vendors use digital cable coaxial lines to deliver high-speed Internet access to homes and businesses. They can provide high-speed access to the Internet of up to 50 Mbps, although most providers offer service ranging from 3 Mbps to 20 Mbps. Where DSL and cable services are unavailable, it is possible to access the Internet via satellite, although some satellite Internet connections have slower upload speeds than other broadband services.
T1 and T3 are international telephone standards for digital communication. They are leased, dedicated lines suitable for businesses or government agencies requiring high-speed guaranteed service levels. T1 lines offer guaranteed delivery at 1.54 Mbps, and T3 lines offer delivery at 45 Mbps. The Internet does not provide similar guaranteed service levels but, simply, best effort.
Source: Laudon Kenneth C., Laudon Jane Price (2020), Management Information Systems: Managing the Digital Firm, Pearson; 16th edition.
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