ISP Services

The exact services an ISP decides to provide will determine the types of user that will be attracted to pay for those services.
At the most basic level an ISP provides some form of connectivity for users to the internet. This could mean a shell login on an internet connected computer to a more sophisticated PPP connection to a modem server, assigning an IP number to the user's computer, then connecting that computer (or network) to the internet.
Listed below are some of the more common services that an ISP can provide.

  • A shell login to an internet connected computer system.
    This often means the ISP has a Unix system of some type. A user can then dial into a modem connected to this system or via a terminal server/modem network connected to the Unix host. The Unix system has a login/password entry for the user.
    Once connected the user then executes various programs (as made available by the system administrator) to access the internet and other services provided on the host system.

  • A UUCP connection.
    This is a Unix dial in connection for collecting files (email, usenet news, data files etc.) from a host system. These files are downloaded to the user system where they are processed and distributed as required. Uucp programs for users are available for just about every operating system.
    UUCP is now becoming less popular as the newer releases of web browsers include file downloading and uploading facilities.

  • PPP/SLIP
    A PPP (Point to Point Protocol) connection is now the standard type of dial in connection that an ISP's users will require.
    This enables a user's computer to become connected to the internet with its own IP number. This number may be allocated by the hosts's system administrator and is then used to identify the user's system each time it connects. An alternative to this static IP number allocation is to have the number provided each time the user connects. This is server IP number allocation and may not be the same number on each connection (although it will still be unique).
    Once connnected with a PPP login the user's computer can now execute whatever internet related commands it has available. These would usually include email, new readers and WWW browsers. SLIP (Serial Line Internet Protocol) connections are similar to PPP types in that they allow the user's computer to become internet connected.

  • Bulletin Board (BBS)
    Some ISPs still provide the traditional Bulletin Board services to users. A BBS program is often a menu that offers access to a range of services the ISP has available. The BBS program will often provide the user with a simple to use menu type interface so that navigating through the ISP system requires little or no knowledge of the host operating system.
    Before the internet was available these bbs programs were often the only type of dial up computer information services that were available.
    More recently with the widespead use of web browsers the need for a bbs menu driven interface or a BBS program to provide an operating system interface has become less popular and many ISPs are moving to only provide basic PPP connections services and local news servers.

  • Email
    Email (Electronic Mail) is one of the most basic services of the internet. It is a person to person message delivery system and will always be expected as an avilable service. Email also covers mailing lists, often these exist until volumes and usage increase significantly to merit the formation of a newsgroup. In any case there are several hundred major mailing lists and probably thousands of minor ones. Word soon gets about to users of what mailing lists are available and quite often new users arrive just to participate in a mailing list.

  • Usenet News
    News is one of the most popular services as just about every user will want access to one or more newsgroups. The issues involved in providing news centre around having your own news server or leaving your users to try and obtain news from other providers. In most cases an ISP will be expected to provide some sort of acceess to news so often the only choice is to invest resources in having a local new server avialable.

  • FTP (File transfer Protocol)
    This was the one of most popular services provided by ISPs until the introduction of the World Wide Web. Basically it is a internet program that enables a user to log into a file server system and upload and download files. These files can be anything from computer programs, image files, usenet news messages and private data files.
    Public access file servers would provide an 'anonymous' login facility where the password was often the email address of the user connecting to the server. The anonymous account would be able to access files that were placed in certain directories specifically for public access.
    If the user actually had a real login to the server then any directories that the user had permission to access were available.

  • IRC (Internet Relay Chat)
    Online chat over the internet is another very popular service.
    From an ISPs perspective it involves having users connected for extended times and usually moving quite small volumes of data.
    With a time charging ISP this is no problem as users are paying for the time they are connected. With a volume charging ISP the small data volumes do not generate sufficient income to cover the cost of a user occupying a dila in line for extended periods.
    From the IRC user perspective the most popular ISP is the flat rate type or the volume cgarging type. The IRC user will tend to avoid time charging ISPs.

  • WWW (World Wide Web) host
    Many ISP users now expect to store their own personal WWW home pages on their ISP's web server, and for these pages to be made publically available. With a WWW host system and ISP is also able to sell the hosting service (creating another revenue stream) by creating proxy servers for other domain name holders and storing their web pages.
    Many ISPs have their users set their WWW browsers to the ISP's home page so that relevenat announcements and other service issues are immediately brought to the users attention when they initially connect to the ISP.

  • Data Storage
    Some people still request this type of service. The most common reason for this is to have their data on a computer system that is Internet connected so that data can be transferred to and from the user's directory.
    This service may have to be associated with other services such as charging for data traffic transfer if the purpose of paying for data storage is in fact to allow data transfer.
    If the stoarge capacity is needed for a static backup of a customer's data then this may not need to be physically located on an internet connected system. The user may only require their data online for updating or recovery processes.

  • Consultancy
    This is where you can sell your expertise.
    Most ISP consultancy services are associated with setting up an internet connection and all of the related areas of computing expertise involved with the internet. This does not preclude possible consultancy on any other area of computing where you have that expertise
    First time connections to the internet can be quite a major undertaking for a company and bringing in expertise by hiring consultants for a short time is often the only way to get independant help with the setup and installation of a new internet connection.

  • Installation
    Although installing web browsers and communications software is becoming easier and many users are capable of completing their own setup and installation there is always demand for an ISP to provide installation services. This will often mean having all the appropriate software for the various common hardware platforms and either visiting the client site or having them bring their computer hardware to your location.

  • Training
    This can be as broad or as specfic as needed. Some ISPs hold regular training sessions for users, most often new users getting connected to the internet for the first time. Although more specific training courses on topics such as Web Design and CGI programming are sometimes run by ISPs where there is also the possibility of generating web related business perhaps by hosting web pages or providing web development facilities.

  • Help Desk/Support
    Everey ISP is at some time expected to provide some user support. This can be more formalised into a Help Desk which can be the first port of call for any enquiry concerning user setup and ongoing use of your ISP.

  • Telehousing
    Telehousing is where a customer's computer system is housed at the ISP's premises and ethernet connected to the ISP's local area network.
    This allows the user's computer to be directly connected to the internet (probably well connected to a relatively fast data link).
    The advantages to a user of this are:
    Avoids expensive data connection (telco Data Service/ISDN etc)
    A simple network connection, usually direct tcp/ip connection
    No need to purchase expensive router equipment

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    Last modified: 7 July 1997.