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An Internet service provider ( ISP) is an organization that provides a myriad of services related to accessing, using, managing, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise privately owned.
Internet services typically provided by ISPs can include internet access, internet transit, domain name registration, web hosting, and colocation.
During the 1980s, online service providers such as CompuServe, Prodigy, and America Online (AOL) began to offer limited capabilities to access the Internet, such as e-mail interchange, but full access to the Internet was not readily available to the general public.
In 1989, the first Internet service providers, companies offering the public direct access to the Internet for a monthly fee, were established in Australia and the United States. In Brookline, Massachusetts, The World became the first commercial ISP in the US. Its first customer was served in November 1989. Also published as Robert H. Zakon These companies generally offered dial-up connections, using the public telephone network to provide last-mile connections to their customers. The barriers to entry for dial-up ISPs were low and many providers emerged.
However, cable television companies and the telephone carriers already had wired connections to their customers and could offer Internet connections at much higher speeds than dial-up using broadband technology such as and digital subscriber line (DSL). As a result, these companies often became the dominant ISPs in their service areas, and what was once a highly competitive ISP market became effectively a monopoly or duopoly in countries with a commercial telecommunications market, such as the United States.
In 1995, NSFNET was decommissioned removing the last restrictions on the use of the Internet to carry commercial traffic and network access points were created to allow peering arrangements between commercial ISPs.
On 26 February 2015, the FCC ruled in favor of net neutrality by adopting Title II (common carrier) of the Communications Act of 1934 and Section 706 in the Telecommunications Act of 1996 to the Internet. The FCC Chairman, Tom Wheeler, commented, "This is no more a plan to regulate the Internet than the First Amendment is a plan to regulate free speech. They both stand for the same concept." On 12 March 2015, the FCC released the specific details of the net neutrality rules. On 13 April 2015, the FCC published the final rule on its new "Net Neutrality" regulations. These rules went into effect on 12 June 2015.
Upon becoming FCC chairman in April 2017, Ajit Pai proposed an end to net neutrality, awaiting votes from the commission. On 21 November 2017, Pai announced that a vote will be held by FCC members on 14 December 2017 on whether to repeal the policy. On 11 June 2018, the repeal of the FCC's network neutrality rules took effect.
For users and small businesses, traditional options include copper wires to provide dial-up, DSL, typically asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL), cable modem or Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) (typically basic rate interface). Using fiber-optics to end users is called Fiber To The Home or similar names.
Customers with more demanding requirements (such as medium-to-large businesses, or other ISPs) can use higher-speed DSL (such as single-pair high-speed digital subscriber line), Ethernet, metropolitan Ethernet, gigabit Ethernet, Frame Relay, ISDN Primary Rate Interface, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), synchronous optical networking (SONET) or MPLS over OTN. (2025). 9783642049675 ISBN 9783642049675 Dedicated internet access (DIA) services for businesses can be delivered using PON networks.
Wireless access is another option, including cellular network and satellite Internet access. Access providers may have an MPLS (Multiprotocol label switching) or formerly a SONET backbone network, and have a ring or mesh network topology in their core network. The networks run by access providers can be considered wide area networks. ISPs can have , aggregation networks/aggregation layers/distribution layers/edge routers/metro networks and a core network/backbone network; each subsequent network handles more traffic than the last. Mobile service providers also have similar networks. These providers often buy capacity on submarine cables to connect to internet exchanges and engage in private peering with other carriers and networks including Tier 1 carriers at data centers, for example by connecting to the NAP of the Americas, a data center which connects many Latin American ISPs with networks in the US.
Many mailbox providers are also access providers, but some are not (e.g., Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, Outlook.com, AOL Mail, Po box). The definition given in RFC 6650 covers email hosting services, as well as the relevant department of companies, universities, organizations, groups, and individuals that manage their mail servers themselves. The task is typically accomplished by implementing Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) and possibly providing access to messages through Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), the Post Office Protocol, Webmail, or a proprietary protocol.
In the simplest case, a single connection is established to an upstream ISP and is used to transmit data to or from areas of the Internet beyond the home network; this mode of interconnection is often cascaded multiple times until reaching a tier 1 carrier. In reality, the situation is often more complex. ISPs with more than one point of presence (PoP) may have separate connections to an upstream ISP at multiple PoPs, or they may be customers of multiple upstream ISPs and may have connections to each one of them at one or more point of presence. Transit ISPs provide large amounts of bandwidth for connecting hosting ISPs and access ISPs. cisco.com Sample Configuration for BGP with Two Different Service Providers (Multihoming) BGP article
Border Gateway Protocol is used by routers to connect to other networks, which are identified by their autonomous system number. Tier 2 ISPs depend on Tier 1 ISPs and often have their own networks, but must pay for transit or internet access to Tier 1 ISPs, but may peer or send transit without paying, to other Tier 2 and/or some Tier 1 ISPs. Tier 3 ISPs do not engage in peering and only purchase transit from Tier 2 and Tier 1 ISPs, and often specialize in offering internet service to end customers such as businesses and individuals. Some organizations act as their own ISPs and purchase transit directly from a Tier 1 ISP. Transit ISPs may use OTN (Optical transport network) or SDH/SONET (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy/Synchronous Optical Networking) with a DWDM (Dense wavelength-division multiplexing) system for transmitting data through optical fiber over long distances such as across a city or between cities. For transmissions in a metro area such as a city and for large customers such as data centers, special pluggable modules in routers, conforming to standards such as CFP, QSFP-DD, OSFP, 400ZR or OpenZR+ may be used alongside DWDM and many vendors have proprietary offerings. Long-haul networks transport data across longer distances than metro networks, such as through submarine cables, or connecting several metropolitan networks. Optical line systems and packet optical transport systems can also be used for data transmission in metro areas, long haul connections and data center interconnect. Ultra long haul transmission transports data over distances of over 1500 kilometers. ISPs connect to each other and to customers via hosting meet-me rooms.
In contrast, consumers in urban areas typically benefit from lower rates and higher quality of broadband services, not only due to more advanced infrastructure but also the healthy economic competition caused by having several ISPs in a given area. How the difference in competition levels has potentially negatively affected the innovation and development of infrastructure in specific rural areas remains a question. The exploration and answers developed to the question could provide guidance for possible interventions and solutions meant to remedy the digital divide between rural and urban connectivity.
ISPs requiring no upstream and having only customers (end customers or peer ISPs) are called Tier 1 ISPs.
Network hardware, software and specifications, as well as the expertise of network management personnel are important in ensuring that data follows the most efficient route, and upstream connections work reliably. A tradeoff between cost and efficiency is possible.
Tier 1 ISPs are also interconnected with a mesh network topology. Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) are public locations where several networks are connected to each other. Public peering is done at IXPs, while private peering can be done with direct links between networks. IXPs or peering exchanges may be located in data centers.
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