The Internet

[thaddaeus]

I feel very stupid, || ignorant with this question, I want technical responses too if possible...thank you

In the process of looking for a new connection, something i can get higher uploads on for streamign/hosting, i got curious. The internet seems to have thousands/millions of computers and networks linking together and sharing access to others connected. Well why then do i need and isp, why can't i get access to the internet without needing some other network to go through first

how do these other isp do it, i imagine it cost a load of dough to do it, and i bet i have to get some government approval of somthing. I was just wondering as i don't have a lot of cheap alternatives out here, in the Denver Tech Center (center for lagging technology). I just want to bypass and isp and get stright to what i'm paying for...

Any response is helpful, i'd do a google search but it seems more++ crap is popping up instead.

[hard candy]

If you can imagine a tree, the trunk is the "original" internet built to link military, research, and governent centers together. That used to be a protected network, available to only a relatively few institutions. Meanwhile, back in the late 1980's and early 1990's BBS's started up. Basically a server that people connected to with a modem. You could post messages. Then more institutions wanted to be connected to the internet and the authorities decided that instead of a direct link, nodes would be set up and the "secondary" institutions could use the nodes to connect to the internet. Meanwhile, BBS's were getting biigger and more popular, and along came Compuserve. It provided access to the general public to the BBS's for a fee and it also allowed the public to "secondarily" access the internet. More and more companies and individuals started demanding access, and the government decided to allow the internet to grow and opened access to everyone. This was in the USA, meanwhile in the rest of the world, the networks started growing and eventually became interconnected. AOL came along, then Netscape, then AltaVista. The part connecting various networks together that were not connected directly to the main "backbone" became the World Wide Web. There are still alternatives to the WWW available, you just need to find the access point and the logon routine.
So basically, the reason you need to go through so many networks is that the ISP wants to charge you. Universities, government institutions, research centers, and the military do not go through a node, their networks are directly connected to the "backbone". But when you connect through, say, Bellsouth, they connect through a node, which is connected to the "backbone". If you could connect via the University of Colorado, you would still have to go through their network but then you would be connected to the "backbone".
There is a secondary "backbone" being put into place called the Internet2, its access wiil be restricted to the military, government, and research centers.
You could find a node or server center but they would still charge you.

[thaddaeus]

Alright, my then next question will be how to become a node on the net, i know there will be some powerful expensive routers/switches/hubs involved. thanks for the reply hard candy.

[hard candy]

Take a look at this site Level Three (http://www.level3.com/560.html) , they are access wholesalers. There are quite a few. Look at their map, they basically have their own "internet" which connects to other "internets". The closer to the original internet you get, the more restricted and more expensive it becomes.

[thaddaeus]

Thanks, seems like i just need to find better services in my area for the time being.

[infiniphunk]

That's funny that you should mention the backbone because recently when our internet svc went down someone told me it was actually the result of "the AT&T backbone down east goin down"; I was told att no longer owns the lines down there, is that right?

[hard candy]

I believe AT&T sold that part of their business to Cingulair.

[capaci]

Originally posted by hard candy
There are still alternatives to the WWW available, you just need to find the access point and the logon routine.


can you give an example of this?

[hard candy]

http://dir.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Internet/Chats_and_Forums/Bulletin_Board_System__BBS_/


http://www.fidonet.org/

http://www.seattlewireless.net/index.cgi/FrequentlyAskedQuestions -this is pretty much local but there are some others in other big cities and communities. If they continue to grow and start connecting to each other then they could be described as an alternative to the internet.

Then you have p2p, radio streams, telnet, IRC, IM