Internet service provider

From Wikinfo

[[fr:Fournisseur d'acc�s Internet]]

Internet Service Provider (ISP), provider of Internet services. Most telecommunications operators are ISPs. Provides services like internet transit, domain name registration and hosting, dial-up access, leased line access and colocation.

Trend

In the first few years of the Twenty-first Century, many ISPs in the United States have been facing challenges. The stock-market for the telecommunications and IT-related industries went down sharply, and many ISPs were forced to go down, restructure itself, sell itself to another company, or merge with others. The slower-than-expected growth of broadband services, key decisions on broadband open access matters all added harshness to the environment in which they have to survive.

Among the affected are for-profit free ISPs, such as NetZero and Juno Online Services, BlueLight; all of these no longer free (mostly non-profit) community networks; major players such as AOL, EarthLink, MindSpring, and AT&T; DSL providers such as Covad, NorthPoint Communications, and Rhythms NetConnections; and a cable broadband ISP Excite at Home.

Other relevant acronyms:

• IAP (Internet Access Provider)
• NSP (Network Service Provider)

Other additional services may include:

• Broadband access
  • DSL -- Digital Subscriber Line
  • Fixed wireless access
  • Cable
• Web hosting services
• Usenet servers
• Email sevices
• DNS
  • Dynamic DNS

See also:

• Peering
• Telco

Examples of ISPs:

• AOL
• CompuServe
• Demon Internet
• Earthlink
• Freeserve
• PIPEX
• Prodigy
• UUNET
• XS4ALL
• Boingo
• IIJ

For your daily dose of ISP lore, see the comic strip User Friendly.

References

• Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Internet service provider" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_service_provider December 17, 2003