As its name suggests, an ISP meaning (Internet Service Provider) is the term used to identify companies that provide Internet access, both to homes and to other companies.
That is, you can have the most impressive PC on the planet with a pristine organization card and the home or office set up with fiber optics, which without an ISP won’t explore. What’s more, to explore, you want to pay a charge to one of these suppliers.
The same happens with Smart TVs and audiovisual content platforms such as Netflix or Prime. If you don’t have a contract with an ISP, it will be impossible to stream even a single chapter.
An ISP, in short, is your gateway to the Internet and everything you can do in the online world: send emails, buy in virtual stores, make video calls or simply search Google.
HOW DOES AN ISP WORK?
Basically, what an ISP does is deploy a telecommunications network that connects to other networks.
There is a hierarchy of providers based on the network level to which each ISP connects. The lowest level is called Tier 3 and connects private corporate networks and personal computers with Tier 2 ISPs. These have local or national coverage and can connect with each other or also connect with Tier 1 ISPs, which are the ones with international coverage.
Each country has its own set of first-tier providers and, in many cases, they are directly controlled by the government. This is what allows an entire country to be isolated from the network at any given time.
In the United States, Tier 1 providers are AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, Century Link, Level 3 Communications, Verio, and Cogent Communications. In China, they are China Unicom and China Telecom. Hong Kong has its own Tier 1 providers: PCCW, PacNet Global, and Reach Networks. In Japan, Tier 1 providers are Japan Telecom, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, Internet Initiative Japan, and KDDI Corporation, and so on with each country.
In theory, service providers at this level can reach any Internet region, but they have to make agreements with other Internet service providers. However, in practice, these agreements are not always clear or public, so it is difficult to determine exactly the number of Tier 1 providers that exist.
WHAT TYPES OF ISPS ARE THERE?
In the early days of the Internet, the only ISPs authorized to provide connections were government agencies, research companies, and universities. Over the years and the expansion of the network, ISPs multiplied, although these are, for the most part, telecommunications companies.
Most Internet Service Providers offer different types of Internet Service Provider connections depending on the number of users and email addresses required, the speed of the connection, or the amount of free space on the web. Some types of ISPs are:
DIAL-UP PROVIDERS
A few years ago, the most common way of connecting to the Internet was dialing over a telephone line using a modem. Despite the fact that it is one of the slowest Internet associations, some dial-up Internet specialist co-ops give gas pedals that utilization page reserving and content pressure to speed up information move. Not surprisingly, it is one of the cheapest ISP types. With the advent of fiber optics and other more advanced types of Internet connection, dial-up ISPs have become quite obsolete.
DSL ACCESS PROVIDERS
After the modem connection, DSL, or Digital Subscriber Line, became very popular. This connection is made through a high-speed modem that connects to the copper wire found in most homes. The downside to this type of connection is that the speed can range from several hundred kilobits per second (Kbps) to millions of bits per second (Mbps) and is highly dependent on the physical distance between the subscriber connection and the ISP location.
CABLE ACCESS PROVIDERS
A cable ISP meaning is offering Internet access through a coaxial cable, which is the same as the one we have in the television outlet. This connection also requires a modem, which can usually be rented from your Internet service provider or purchased from a computer reseller. The advantage is that money can be saved by combining Internet and television services.
WIRELESS BROADBAND PROVIDERS
This type of connection is often used in large areas where there is no cable infrastructure. These ISPs provide high-speed Internet through links created with radio frequency antennas, similar to what is done with traditional television.
SATELLITE ACCESS PROVIDERS
Like wireless connections, Internet access via satellite connections is used in remote areas where there is no antenna or cable infrastructure in the subsoil.
Satellite connections tend to have very fast download speeds but very slow uploads.
FIBER OPTIC PROVIDERS
It is currently the type of connection that is being deployed the fastest, mainly in urban environments.
The fiber optic connection offers high speeds in all services and also allows the service to be supplied to a multitude of clients with a single cable.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ISP AND HOSTING?
In addition to Internet access, ISPs offer a variety of services to their customers such as telephone lines or cable television. They now and then give web facilitating administrations, permitting clients to make and keep up with individual pages.
However, it is necessary to differentiate the company that provides the connection service from those that are almost exclusively dedicated to registering domain names and hosting web pages. This type of company is what is commonly known as a hosting company or hosting provider.
Ultimately, hosting companies are also clients of ISPs and what they do is connect their server infrastructure to the networks provided by them. Apart from domain registration and hosting, hosting companies offer other types of services such as backups and email, all in environments protected by firewalls and with several connections to different ISPs to ensure that these services work 24 hours a day.
