Generic ISP Services
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This is an updated version of a portion of an article written on types
of Internet service available for the Discovery Bay Clipper back in '95
titled "Telecommunications For The Rest Of Us 1995 by
A.Lizard.
Who needs to read this?
- If you're new to the online environment, this will tell you briefly what you can do with it.
- If you're using a major online service like AOL or Compuserve, this will tell you briefly what you can do with the Internet and why (I assume you've already noticed the busy signals) you should do it from somewhere else.
Basic Internet Services
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) provide Internet access via a
"live"
Internet connection, they are continuously connected to the Internet,
messages to/from users or conferences go through the network to
destinations virtually instantaneously.
Either Internet-connected computer bulletin boards or Internet Service
Providers (ISPs) will provide users with electronic mail.
ISPs provide other services BBS systems not continuously connected to the
Internet can't, such as:
Shell Accounts
All the listed services can be accessed by a "shell
account", "unix shell account", or "user account". The user interface is
usually a command line interface, hopefully with menus... but usually
without.
The programs used to access the Internet run on the ISP, not on
your computer. The most common ones in use are:
These are also the commands you type from the unix command prompt (it
looks like the DOS prompt on your PC... type the command after the bracket.
This is considered a primitive level of Internet service, to
learn about modern Net service, click here.
ISP user accounts are either hourly rate accounts where you pay a monthly
service charge plus paying by the hour for use over however many "free"
hours are covered in that service charge or "flat rate" accounts, where
you pay a fixed monthly charge... period. Hourly rate accounts are
becoming a unmourned dead thing of the past.
For SLIP or PPP, you will require some detailed configuration
information if you already have the SLIP or PPP programs on your computer. If
you have their preconfigured package, dial them up and see you online.
Most ISPs can bill to:
The most common kind of individual Internet service
service is a SLIP/PPP (Serial Line Internet Protocol) (Point-to-Point
protocol - a variation of SLIP) account. This literally turns your
computer into a personal "live" Internet site while your computer is
connected to your ISP via ordinary phone line, ISDN, or Frame Relay.
There are other kinds of service that make more sense for
businesses with large numbers of users, perhaps if reader
interest justifies it, they can be discussed another time.
For normal users, the main use for SLIP/PPP is drastically improved
World Wide Web access. This means that instead of screens full of text,
you see graphics displays and fancy screen fonts or hear sounds or see
movies, etc. when you log onto a Web site. This requires special software
that will have to be installed on your computer:
If only one program / site is listed, there are versions available
somewhere at that site for both Windows and Mac users.
Note that alternatives to all of these programs are available and will
generally provide comparable performance, what's listed reflects my
personal preferences. While you can actually simply use Netscape and a
TCP/IP stack to get SLIP/PPP Net access, I don't like Netscape as
anything but a Web browser, I regard the functionality of its e-mail,
etc. programs as pretty mediocre.
In general, Windows users should go to the Tucows site for Internet-related
software, including packages not listed here or in versions more current
than my site currently points at. Mac users should go to this
site for now, until I find a better one. Check the read-me file, this will
tell you what's on the site and hopefully, what it does.
There are also ways to provide both live
voice and even live video conferencing over the Internet. If even one
person you call regularly via telephone toll call is on the Internet,
these can provide real savings on telephone company long distance charges.
SLIP/PPP accounts are a more complex setup than shell accounts, unless you get a
preconfigured software package from an ISP that only calls that ISP or an
"Internet in a box" package from a computer store which only allows you to
use the ISP service bundled with that package or requires to make a number
of control setting changes. These preconfigured packages are usually free
with signup on a service.
For SLIP or PPP, you will require some detailed configuration
information if you already have the SLIP/PPP software listed above on your
computer to set up your TCP/IP stack. If you have their preconfigured
package, dial them up and see you online.
To support a SLIP or PPP account, your minimum system configuration for
either Mac or Windows is a 486 (or 68LC040) with 16 megs DRAM. You might
get by with less, but you'll have enough problems starting out without
your machine giving you more.
You'll want either a 28.8 or 33.6 modem (14.4 is absolute minimum). Don't
buy a 56K modem until 9/97 or later, there are 4 different and
incompatible 56K standards and if you buy the wrong one, unless it can be
easily updated, you've bought yourself a white elephant. (3/97)The new
standard is out, it's called v____, modems based on it will be out soon.
There may be fire sale prices on the older 56K modems. Do not buy
them unless you know how they can be (cheaply) upgraded. This means
downloadable software drivers for flash ROMS, this means replacement
PROMs... but if there isn't something, don't buy it.
(the following numbers are obsolete and will be revised shortly)
Note that 14.4 K = 14,400 bits per second, or roughly 1440 cps.
(characters per second) So a 4:1 compression ratio can make a good 14.4
run at not 1440, but 5600 cps, I've actually seen this done on some
name-brand modems. As for 33.6K, while the line conditions needed to make
it run at full speed rarely obtain in practice, the good ones will make
solid connects which will fill your screen with data faster than
nominally slower modems.
A faster modem doesn't necessarily mean that you'll connect any faster
once you're on the Net. There are a lot of factors which determine how
fast a page will load onto your Web browser, your modem speed may be the
least important factor in this.
If your system doesn't meet the minimum standards for SLIP/PPP, either
get an upgrade now before the price of memory goes up (16 megs
non-parity non-EDO 72 pin
package - <$95 as of 4/8/97> or get a shell account. (3/4/98) Looks like
the price isn't going up anytime soon, look for under $30 price for
16 megs in 72 pin, and the premium if your motherboard handles the new
DIMM 168 pin packages just isn't that much. There are several types,
make sure you've got the right DIMM, take the motherboard manual along
to the store if you have to. But if your motherboard handles
DIMM, it will probably have a fast Pentium or PowerMac processor and
it'll have at least 16 megs and probably more as of when you bought it.
And you'll want at least 32 or 64 megs.
For SLIP or PPP, you will require some detailed configuration
information if you already have a SLIP or PPP program on your computer.
You can get that from your new ISP. If you already have their
preconfigured package, install it, dial them up and see you online.
On-line services, and why you should avoid
them. The best way to summarize the reputation of
CompuServe, Prodigy and AOL on
the Internet is to note that these major online services are generally
called CompuSlime and Fraudigy and less printable things by most online
users who express an opinion in public, the word AOL is usually followed
by the word "SUCKS!!!" For further information, read the Usenet
alt.aol.sucks newsgroup or check out AOL SUCKS or the AOL sucks siteand aolwatch. There are quite a
few sites that discuss AOL put up by angry ex-AOL users. These are
random choices. I'm not quite sure what it is that makes AOL users so
angry that they not only quit, but organize to do maximum damage to the
reputation of their former ISP access. There's also a single pro-AOL site that
should be here for the sake of comic relief. I'll post it when I remember
the URL.
Compuslime might be better called spammers' paradise. I've got
over 150 e-mails in my special compuserve spam mailboxes, the spams
myself and my unsuccessful attempts to have anything done about them. If
you're a compuslime user and you hate spam, find another ISP, one which
unplugs spammers rather than protecting them. That's pretty much everyone except Compuserve.
Even AOL has gotten rabid about nailing spammers once they figured out
how much spam is costing them. While I would not attempt to hack down
compuslime's servers, I would certainly contribute a few bucks to the
legal defense of anyone caught successfully taking down one or more
compuslime servers and would encourage others to contribute as well. Now
that AOL owns them, perhaps I should contact AOL about cleaning up the
compuslime mess. Note that compuserve does have an abuse@compuserve.com
address. I've seen no evidence that it is anything but an autoresponder,
followed by the trashing of your message.
If you are accessing this from AOL or Compuserve, you have my
sympathy. By the way, AOL users can download a program from AOL which
will autodial your local number up to NINE times in a row. Isn't
this miraculous? Note that local ISPs whose systems were operating
normally that you can't get into by the second try are rare, if you've
got one, consider finding another... If you're with a major online
service, you can skip ahead to links to lists of Internet Service
Providers here. I strongly
recommend that you switch to a local ISP. They're by and
large good people, and when they run out of modem space, all they
have to do is to go out and buy a bundle of lines from their phone
company and a rack of modems. A major on-line service has to spend
hundreds of millions of dollars over several months. . . just in
time for the new system to get saturated by new users.
Online services: These are basically VERY large BBS systems with
telephone connections all over the USA, examples include America
On-Line and Compuserve. They also provide the usual services of
an ISP, including Web access.
The points in their favor are:
When I originally wrote this article, these were hourly rate services.
Now, they charge what everyone else does, and suddenly, you can't dial
past the busy signals unless you're willing to tie up a phone line for
hours waiting for an available modem.
For me, these services are a waste of money and I avoid them. The
consensus on the Internet is that on-line services are used by those who
know no better and the increasingly rare unfortunates who have no other
local way to dial to the Internet. There are also some odd things about
the way they handle the Internet, in fact, America On-Line is starting its
own separate ISP business (Global Network Navigator) to allow them to
provide professional-level Internet access as is CompuServe. From my
observation, the AOL browser and other SLIP/PPP tools (see suck, if you MUST use AOL, replace your
browser with Netscape, the configurations instructions for use with AOL
are on the Netscape site, technical
support page, I think.
Worse, their censorship has gotten so out of hand that I don't
see how their current users can tolerate them. The story about
America OnLine forbidding breast cancer sufferers to use the word
"breast" online is true. Adults should not have to use phrases
like "hooter" cancer in order to get around mechanized
censorship. The story about CompuServe forcing American users to
stop using adult conferences due to objections from the GERMAN
government until they could selectively restrict the German
portion of their userbase regardless of age to "kiddie-safe"
newsgroups is common knowledge.
Posting complaints about service or policies on an on-line
service is a good way to have your complaints or your account
deleted. This censorship is one of the reasons why on-line
service users don't get a lot of respect on the Internet. There
are other reasons why many Internet users and even Internet
Service Providers have set their computer systems so they will
not receive posts or e-mail from aol and other on-line services.
Public opinion on the Internet says that on-line services are
used by people who simply don't know any better.
However, if you simply need a convenient, extremely easy to use
e-mail address and occasional place to download files and don't
plan to interact much with other users, and you don't care who is
reading your e-mail, you might give them a try, at least for the
first few hours of free service provided with the disks that
virtually every computer user has been inundated with.
Personally, I reformat these disks so I can put them to a useful
purpose. The free CDROMS make good coasters, decorations, or targets if
you're into shooting.
The good news is that now, WebTV is at the bottom of the food chain,
now, aol and other online services have someone to laugh at. While AOL
is seen as a place whose users aren't bright enough to use real telecomm
software, WebTV is seen as a place where people aren't bright enough to
use real computers.
Or, check out the new free Web based - advertising supported e-mail sites
like Hotmail. You can use any Web
browser to access them, this even includes the public Internet access
terminals found at an increasing number of public libraries. However, if
you have experience with using the Internet from a network at work or
your own machine, you won't like them. They are slow and frequently
crash browsers.
ispname>pine
Then type 'Enter'.
You can get a 14.4K modem (internal-DOS) for under $50, external should
cost under $65. For 28.8K, add $20 to the 14.4K prices, for 33.6K,
add $40 to the 14.4 prices. Macs can use
standard external (DOS) modems with the right miniDIN-8 to cable adaptor.
Reputable modem manufactures include US Robotics and Practical
Peripherals. While their modems may cost a few dollars more than the
cheaper generics, they will bring up Web pages a lot faster than many
competing models which have the same nominal speed. The difference is how
they implement the V42.bis compression
algorithm in hardware, compression can speed a modem up to 4 times it's
nominal rate.
This should be of special interest to you if you use AOL or are accessing this from a library public Internet access terminal. In the San Francisco Bay Area, you can find a listing for local ISPs at the Computer Currents ISP listing page.
The rest of the planet should go to The List. This free service is searchable in a number of ways, one should hook you up with an ISP you can use. Since The List also has AC510,415,408 listings, you can also use it in the SF Bay Area. Or, check your newspaper or local / regional computer magazines. The omission of national magazines is not an accident, local ISPs don't place ads there. Another list can be found at Boardwatch Magazine.
Personally, I use ecis since I live in Contra Costa County in California in the Northeastern portion of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Send mail to me at alizard@ecis.com