The Evolution of Internet Service Providers

Can you survive without an internet connection? Probably yes, but today, our world revolves around the internet. Everywhere you go, you need an internet connection either directly or indirectly. How would you pay for your gas? You likely never thought about that. You don’t expect that forty years ago people were so reliant on the internet as they are today. Did the commercial system even exist? Of course, systems were different then, and the so-called global village wants existent, but things still happened. The demand for internet has expanded hence the requirement for Internet Service Providers (ISPs). So, how did this come to be?

Where It All Started
Initially, the internet was created as a cold war communication failsafe in the 1950s and it was known as ARPANET (Advanced Research Project Agency). Thirty years later, when the Walkman was a big thing, researchers started using it as a means for sending large files. In 1991, the internet went live to the globe via the introduction of the world wide web (www). Actually, the first commercial ISP was set up in 1989. From this moment, various ISP’s have sprung, competing to offer the best internet speeds that clients demand. Before the commercialization of the internet in 1989, the National Science Foundation banned commercial ISP’s and only allowed the government to operate these services. With the NSF giving in in 1991, a new era of technology began in ISP’s.

The Dial-up Access
Initially, this was the primary connection topology applied by ISP’s when they started doing business. After all, this was the best at that time and it not long ago that it was the preferred method of connection by ISP’s. It works in a simple process. First, your computer offers a signal that it wants to connect to the internet, and the dial-up process gets initiated. After a series of clicks as a phone number is getting dialed, you get modulated to the ISP’s modem, and you get your Internet Protocol from the ISP’s modem. Voila! You are now connected. Then, it seemed like a highly sophisticated technology, but times have changed, and better systems have developed. It’s still not ancient, in some unique cases, people still use a dial-up connection to connect to the internet. It was a preferred network connection method considering it affordability; however, there are some inconveniences that you had to endure. Slow connection and loading speeds are the most common. If you compare the speed of broadband (more than 512kbps) to dial-up (only 56kbps), then you would realize a world of differences. Most firms today like Optimum internet don’t even utilize this technology; the speed isn’t useful today.

How Has The Technology Grown?
It took some time before people started realizing fast internet connections via Digital Subscriber Line. It still used the conventional phone lines but at a quicker speed than dial-up. With the high demand in internet services, ISP’s invested in better technologies. Within a span of twenty years, ISP’s are offering cable internet and fiber optics connections. In 1996, cable broadband was introduced, which utilized the existing cable network to provide a better internet connection that was better than DSL. This was more applicable in densely populated regions. However, with higher demand at faster speeds, and a rapid rate of technology advancement, fiber optics entered the scene. The connection today offers people with incredible speeds; nothing close to dial-up connections. All this internet connection infrastructure is expensive, and it wouldn’t make any economic sense to create a network that would serve just a few. This means that individuals in remote regions are mostly left out, staying in the dark.

Thanks to satellite internet, no matter where you are, you can get an active internet connection. There are no cables or wires. You get a signal from space directly to your home, no matter where you are.

What Does the Future Hold?
Having regraded ISP’s as the de facto regulators of the internet, their importance cannot be underestimated. They are responsible for ensuring that clients get consistent, high-quality service at all times. In the future, it is expected that internet reliance will grow and people will demand even faster connections. That is the reason it is integral that you carefully analyze your current ISP to see whether they are going to meet your business’ needs if you are excepting to rely on internet connectivity fully.

For ISP’s to remain relevant and compete in a growing market, they have to diversify their services so that they can create a difference between themselves and competitors. This is the best way of having the best customer appeal. This is the essence of adopting new and better business models.