Why Do I Need An ISP When I've Got Internet Explorer And A Phone Line?
Friends have told me lately that if I have a phone line and splitter (splits the line 1/2 for phone and 1/2 for DSL) that I can just use Internet Explorer and DON'T need an actual ISP. We can get free email from companies like AOL and surf the web with I/E. This makes sense.....but is it true? If so, every household in America is being ripped off by MSN, Yahoo, etc. And paying $$$ each month to them we don't need to............
2 Answers - Sort by: Date | Rating
Simply having a phone line doesn't mean that you are able to connect to the internet. The phone line is used, sure, but you actually need to connect through to something.
Let's start a bit further back. You're using DSL, but this same principle applies (albeit in a different way) to old-fashioned dial-up internet. When you start using your phone line, what actually happens is that a signal is transmitted along the line, to your local telephone exchange, and it is set up to send your signal through to your specific ISP's gateway, and then onto what is called the "backbone" connection of your ISP. This "backbone" is part of what we actually know as the internet as a whole, and is a really really REALLY fast, fat connection, and part of the physical underlying structure of the internet itself. Because your ISP pays for, and maintains, this big fat pipe of bandwidth, they charge their customers a fee to connect them up to the internet.
So yeah, you *do* need an ISP, because you need something to actually connect you to the internet. Internet Explorer is just one of many applications called "browsers" that are capable of taking the info that is sent from your ISP, via your connection, and displaying it as web pages.
If it helps, think of this in terms of your water supplier - all the pipes are there, all the drainage systems are there, and there's water in that big reservoir a few miles up the road, so why do we have to pay to get water? Well, someone has to pay to maintain the pipes and systems and get the water from the reservoir to your house.
I hope that this made sense. And I'm sorry for using water pipes as an analogy for networks...
Let's start a bit further back. You're using DSL, but this same principle applies (albeit in a different way) to old-fashioned dial-up internet. When you start using your phone line, what actually happens is that a signal is transmitted along the line, to your local telephone exchange, and it is set up to send your signal through to your specific ISP's gateway, and then onto what is called the "backbone" connection of your ISP. This "backbone" is part of what we actually know as the internet as a whole, and is a really really REALLY fast, fat connection, and part of the physical underlying structure of the internet itself. Because your ISP pays for, and maintains, this big fat pipe of bandwidth, they charge their customers a fee to connect them up to the internet.
So yeah, you *do* need an ISP, because you need something to actually connect you to the internet. Internet Explorer is just one of many applications called "browsers" that are capable of taking the info that is sent from your ISP, via your connection, and displaying it as web pages.
If it helps, think of this in terms of your water supplier - all the pipes are there, all the drainage systems are there, and there's water in that big reservoir a few miles up the road, so why do we have to pay to get water? Well, someone has to pay to maintain the pipes and systems and get the water from the reservoir to your house.
I hope that this made sense. And I'm sorry for using water pipes as an analogy for networks...
2
0
Well I for one think it's a great analogy, and the answer does a good job of making something that is complex easily understood. Nicely done. :)
Hey, I love the water pipes analogy. That was great. Why though can I still access web pages on I.E. Without an ISP? Is it simply because they have access to a higher/faster bandwidth? That's is where it all becomes fuzzy to me......................A friend of mine who used to work for Microsoft says that all anyone needs is a telephone line...............(?)
0
0
- How Do You Program A Number Into Speed Dial?
- How To Connect To Some One Broadband?
- How To Find My Isp Address?
- How Can Share Internet?
- How Do I Can Get My ISP's On My Computer?
- What Is The Connection With Carlisle And The Voltri?
- How Can I Stop Someone From Getting My Isp Address?
- Where In The Program Of ISP?
- When Did Broadband Start?
- Where Do I Look In My Computer To Find My ISP Number And/or Password?
- .) Narrowband Digital Lines Have A Lower Transmission Rate Than Broadband Digital Lines. True Or False?
- How Can I Check That How Much Balance Of Downloading Is Left In My Bsnl Broadband Connection?
- What Do I Write In New Connection?
- What Was The First Isp?
- How Do Isp Companies Work?
- How Do I Set Up Speed Dial On Impression?
- When Was Dail Up Connection Invented?
- What Ia A Disadvantage Of An IDE Connection?
- How To Shutdown Using C Lang?
- How Is Farst Isp Provided For Totle India?
- Can I Hide My Isp From Local Isp Companies That May Try To Access My Information?
- Which Of These Two Is Correct, In Connection With Or In Connection To?
- What Is An Advantage Of An IDE Connection?
- Where Is The Closest Rapid Transport Connection For Burlington?
- Waht Is A Disadvantage Of An IDe Connection?
- Can I Get Wireless Internet Without A Phone Line?
- Can You Have Wireless Internet Without Having A Phone Line?
- I Do Not Have A Phone Line, Can I Still Have Wireless Internet For Laptop?
- Can You Get Xbox Live Through A Phone Line And Not The Internet?
- Do I Need Land Line Phone Service To Connect My Laptop To The Internet?
- How ISP Connect To The Internet?
- How Do ISP Providers Connect To The Internet?
New Comment - Comments are editable for 5 min.