Beyond Surfing the Internet
Any 10-year-old next-door neighbor can get your computer hooked up to the Internet. But the heart of the matter is the tour of the Web. This is the information it takes years to pick up on your own years of trial and error, painful experience, and barking up wrong trees. Here, in one tidy atlas [...]
The Internet: Before and After
Once upon a time, back when there weren’t any footprints on the moon, some far-sighted folks decided to see whether they could connect several major computer networks together. I’ll spare you the names and stories (there are plenty of both), but the eventual result was the “mother of all networks,” which we call the Internet. [...]
What is the Internet
The Internet isn’t any one product or service; remember, it’s just a network of connections between computers. Specialized software programs can communicate over this digital pipeline in all kinds of interesting ways. For example, you’ve probably heard of emailthe electronic version of postal mail. The World Wide Web is also deservedly famous (billions upon billions [...]
Can I dial in without having to call a long-distance number?
Question of the day: If you connect to the Internet by modem, the modem in your computer calls the ISP’s computers. If that telephone call is a long-distance call, going on the Internet becomes an expensive proposition because you have to pay long-distance rates for each connection time. National ISPs, such as those run by [...]
Length of Service Contract with an ISP
Anybody who has a cellphone knows that length-of-service contracts can be a real burden. Under these contracts, you have to sign on for a year. If the service doesn’t suit you, you can’t quit the service during the first year without paying a fee. If an ISP that you’re considering requires you to sign a [...]