What Does ISP Stand For?

ISP in simple words is an Internet Service Provider. An ISP provides internet access to homes and companies. An ISP may operate at the national or local (regional) level. A national ISP will cater to the entire nation and a local ISP will provide internet access to a limited geographic area. Examples of ISP's operating at the national level are AOL, CompuServe, MSN etc. and those playing at the local or regional level are Ameritech, Soltec etc.

Depending on your requirement and your budget ISPs can provide internet connectivity through different types. An ISP can provide dial-up access, broadband, cable, DSL and other types of access. In addition to internet access, ISPs may provide other services as well like web hosting, data centre services and email solutions.

Different ISPs offer different deals. Individuals and companies should do a little research of the ISPs around the locality before choosing one, especially the terms and conditions they offer. Some of the important points to be considered while choosing an ISP are call connection cost, whether cost is based on downloads and uploads, reliability of the service, whether there is an online usage check facility, technical support facilities, security of the network and safety of the information.

Top 10 ISP's in the US are:

1) America Online
2) Comcast (cable broadband)
3) SBC (AT&T) (DSL only)  
4) Verizon (DSL only)
5) Road Runner (cable broadband)  
6) EarthLink (DSL, dialup, cable, satellite, PLC, and web hosting-SK EarthLink and some other business lines not included)
7) BellSouth (DSL only)
8) Cox (cable broadband)  
9) United Online (counting paid dialup only)
10) Charter (cable broadband)

Top 10 ISP's in the UK are:

1) Freeserve (2 million active)
2) World Online 1.4 million
3) AOL multiple brands 1.2 million (est.)
4) LineOne 1.1 million
5) Virgin Net 500,000
6) Genie 450,000
7) BT Click 440,000
8) BT Internet 425,000
9) Claranet 350,000
10) Thus 246,000  

The full form of isp is 'Internet Service Provider'. ISP basically is a form of business organisation that sells access to internet to consumers. Initially most ISP organisations were run by the phone company. Now a days ISP services can be started by an individual who has sufficient amount of funds and expertise. Apart from providing Internet through a variety of technologies such as dial-up and DSL, they can also provide other services like Internet transit, domain name registration, web hosting and collocation.

ISPs use a wide range of technologies to allow consumers to connect to their network. For example for home consumers the most common services available are dial-up, DSL, Broadband wireless access, Cable modem and ISDN. Customers who have higher or more demanding requirements are give DSL, Ethernet, Metro Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet internet lines depending upon their usage and speed requirement.  

The ISP is 'Internet Service Provider'. Through ISP only, customers can access internet services.