How Does it Work?



The internet is a massive world wide collection of computers, connected together in a huge network. Any type of computer can be connected to the network, as long as it speaks the universal internet language, TCP/IP.

Using a home computer like an Apple Mac or a PC, you can become a temporary part of this network by signing up with an internet service provider (ISP). An ISP is a company that has fast, direct internet connections, and which can act as a gateway for you. In return for a monthly or yearly fee, the ISP enables you to use a modem attached to your computer to dial up and connect to its computers, which in turn connect you to the internet. As a result you can access the world wide web, send messages to newsgroups, and get an email address that enables you to exchange email with other users.

Choosing an Internet Service Provider

There are more than 150 internet service providers (ISP's) to choose between, from local one man band outfits to global services run by the likes of UUnet. It's probably best not to opt for a small, local ISP. Internet access is a cut throat business and the pundits are saying that the small guys are going to have their work cut out to avoid going under.

You're also more likely to get better software, better services and better technical support from a large service provider. The major ISP's have massive connections to the internet, which means they can support a very large number of simultaneous users without grinding to a halt. Smaller ISP's may be cheaper, but they actually have to lease space from the big providers themselves, and don't have nearly as much capacity to share around. This means they're more likely to have problems during busy periods, and they'll almost certainly have fewer modems, meaning more engaged signals when you dial in at peak times: a low user-to-modem ratio is vital.

The large service providers can also afford to maintain bigger, faster computers to handle email, usenet discussion groups, and so on, while small firms might have problems in this area. Finally, there's support. A good ISP will supply you with all the necessary software to get online. This software should be easy to setup and use, backed up by 24 hour help lines if you have a problem. Again, some smaller ISP's just can't afford this sort of overhead. Setup software might be scarce or non-existent and there's unlikely to be any sort of dedicated support line. And if an ISP doesn't offer internet access on a local phone number, forget it. In addition to all this, a decent ISP might offer free web space, multiple email addresses, and other goodies like automatic filtering of junk email. On the whole, you get what you pay for.

Modems Explained.

There used to be a time when buying a modem was fraught with worry and technical difficulty. Nowadays, it's hard to buy a PC, without a modem already fitted. What a modem does is enable your PC to exchange data with other computers – whether it's your mate's down the road or a machine on the internet – over the phone line. But as we all know, the data your PC produces is digital bits and bytes, and only analogue signals can be transmitted over the phone line. This means that for the data to get out of your machine and onto the internet, it needs to be converted from digital to analogue and then back again. And that's what a modem does. It modulates the outgoing digital signals produced by your PC, turning them into analogue ones, then demodulates the incoming analogue signals to turn them back into a digital one.

Now you know, roughly, how a modem works, you can forget about it, just as you probably don't care how your AWE 64 sound card produces that 3D surround sound effect. Same deal with modems. They plug in, they work, they let you connect to the internet, play multi player games, and run up a phone bill the size of Oliver Reed's drinks tab.

Buying a Modem

There are still a few decisions to make when you get to your local modem store. The fastest modems on the market for home users promise download speeds of up to 56Kbps. Did you notice the ‘up to' because that's the speed achieved by these modems under impossible-to-achieve-in-the-real-world laboratory conditions. In reality, when line noise, signal quality and the phase of the lunar cycle all take their toll, the maximum realistic download speed you can expect to achieve is 41-44Kbps. Oh, and the other thing is that because of the smart way they work, 56Kbps modems can only download data at the faster speed, they still have to upload at the slower, but respectable speed of 33Kbps.

If you don't know which brand name to choose, just toss a coin, or go for the cheapest, or the one that offers the best after sales support, or the longest lead, or the prettiest plug, or the best advert.