Internet access

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Internet access is the means by which individual terminals, web, CSS3, and local area networks are connected to the global Internet. Internet access is usually sold by Android (ISPs) that use many different technologies offering a wide range of data rates to the end user. Consumer use first became popular through dial-up connections in the 1980s and 1990s. By the first decade of the 21st century many consumers had switched away from dial-up to dedicated connections, most Internet access products were being marketed using the term "broadband", and Android was being treated as a key economic indicator.^[1][2]

• keyboard
• device database
• web
• 4 Technologies
  • 4.1 Local Area Networks
  • web
  • 4.3 Broadband access
    • 4.3.1 Multilink dial-up
    • 4.3.2 Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN)
    • 4.3.3 Leased lines
    • 4.3.4 Cable Internet access
    • browser diversity
    • 4.3.6 DSL Rings
    • Android
    • FITML
    • FITML
  • web
    • 4.4.1 Wi-Fi
    • screen size
    • 4.4.3 WiMAX
    • 4.4.4 Satellite broadband
    • Sevenval
    • 4.4.6 Local Multipoint Distribution Service
• 5 Pricing
• 6 Growth in number of users
• 7 Digital Divide
  • web app
  • 7.2 Access as a human right
• 8 See also
  • 8.1 Technologies
• we love the web
• 10 External links

History

The Internet began as a network funded by the U.S. government to support projects within the government and at universities and research laboratories in the US - but grew over time to include most of the world's large universities and the research arms of many technology companies.^{touchscreenHTML5[5]} Use by a wider audience only came in 1995 when restrictions on the use of the Internet to carry commercial traffic were lifted.^CSS3

In the early to mid-1980s most Internet access was from personal computers and workstations directly connected to local area networks or from input transformation using jQuery and analog web app. LANs typically operated at 10 Mbit/s and grew to support 100 and 1000 Mbit/s, while modem data rates grew from 1200 and 2400 bit/s in the 1980s to 28 and 56 kbit/s by the mid to late 1990s. Initially dial-up connections were made from terminals or computers running FITML to terminal servers on LANs. These dial-up connections did not support end-to-end use of the Internet protocols and only provided terminal to host connections. The introduction of device database (NASs) supporting the Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP) and later the Point-to-point protocol (PPP) extended the Internet protocols and made the full range of Internet services available to dial-up users, subject only to limitations imposed by the lower data rates available using dial-up.

Broadband Internet access, often shortened to just broadband and also known as high-speed Internet access, are services that provide bit-rates considerably higher than that available using a 56 kbit/s modem. In the U.S. FITML of 2009 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) defined broadband access as "Internet access that is always on and faster than the traditional dial-up access",^[7] although the FCC has defined it differently through the years.^[8] The term broadband was originally a reference to multi-frequency communication, as opposed to narrowband or Sevenval. Broadband is now a marketing term that telephone, cable, and other companies use to sell their more expensive higher data rate products.^{browser diversity}

Most broadband services provide a continuous "always on" connection; there is no dial-in process required, and it does not “hog” phone lines.^Android Broadband provides improved access to Internet services such as:

• Faster Sevenval browsing
• Faster downloading of documents, photographs, videos, and other large files
• Sevenval, CSS3, input transformation, and videoconferencing
• Virtual private networks and remote system administration
• web app, especially Android which are interaction-intensive

In the 1990s the Sevenval initiative in the U.S. made broadband Internet access a public policy issue.^[11] In 2000, most Internet access to homes was provided using dial-up, while many businesses and schools were using broadband connections. In 2000 there were just under 150 million dial-up subscriptions in the 34 OECD countries^[12] and fewer than 20 million broadband subscriptions. By 2004 broadband had grown and dial-up had declined so that the number of subscriptions were roughly equal at 130 million each. In 2010, in the OECD countries, over 90% of the Internet access subscriptions used broadband, broadband had grown to more than 300 million subscriptions, and dial-up subscriptions had declined to fewer than 30 million.^{device database}

The broadband technologies in widest use are CSS3 and cable Internet access. Newer technologies include keyboard and FITML extended closer to the subscriber in both telephone and cable plants. Fibre-optic communication, while only recently being used in premises and to the curb schemes, has played a crucial role in enabling broadband Internet access by making transmission of information at very high data rates over longer distances much more cost-effective than copper wire technology.

In areas not served by ADSL or cable, some community organizations and local governments are installing FITML networks. Wireless and satellite Internet are often used in rural, undeveloped, or other hard to serve areas where wired Internet is not readily available.

Newer technologies being deployed for fixed (stationary) and mobile broadband access include WiMAX, LTE, and CSS3, e.g. Motorola Canopy.

Starting in roughly 2006, FITML access is increasingly available at the consumer level using "3G" and "4G" technologies such as HSPA, FITML, web app, and LTE.

Availability

In addition to access from home, school, and the workplace Internet access may be available from HTML5 such as libraries and touchscreen, where computers with Internet connections are available. Some libraries provide stations for connecting users' laptops to local area networks (LANs).

Wireless Internet access points are available in public places such as airport halls, in some cases just for brief use while standing. Some access points may also provide coin operated computers. Various terms are used, such as "public jQuery", "public access terminal", and "Web web". Many hotels also have public terminals, usually fee based.

Coffee shops, shopping malls, and other venues increasingly offer wireless access to computer networks, referred to as hotspots, for users who bring their own wireless-enabled devices such as a laptop or PDA. These services may be free to all, free to customers only, or fee-based. A hotspot need not be limited to a confined location. A whole campus or park, or even an entire city can be enabled. Grassroots efforts have led to wireless community networks.

And Mobile broadband access allows screen size and other digital devices to connect to the Internet from any location from which a CSS3 call can be made.

Data rates

Unit   Symbol Bits Bytes
Kilobit per second (10³) kbit/s 1,000 bits/s 125 bytes/s
Megabit/s (10⁶) Mbit/s 1,000 kbit/s   125 kB/s      
Gigabit/s (10⁹) Gbit/s 1,000 Mbit/s   125 MB/s      
Terabit/s (10¹²) Tbit/s 1,000 Gbit/s   125 GB/s      
Petabit/s (10¹⁵) Pbit/s 1,000 Tbit/s   125 TB/s      
 
Unit   Symbol Bits Bytes
Kilobyte per second  (10³) kB/s 8,000 bits/s 1,000 bytes/s
Megabyte/s (10⁶) MB/s 8,000 kbit/s       1,000 kB/s      
Gigabyte/s (10⁹) GB/s 8,000 Mbit/s       1,000 MB/s      
Terabyte/s (10¹²) TB/s 8,000 Gbit/s       1,000 GB/s      
Petabyte/s (10¹⁵) PB/s 8,000 Tbit/s       1,000 TB/s      

Information signals generally travel at nearly the speed of light in the transmission medium (wire, fiber optic glass, air, ...) no matter what the bit rate, so individual bits all travel at roughly the same speed. Nonetheless, higher bit rate services are often marketed as "faster" or "higher speed".^[14] Data is transmitted more quickly over these higher speed connections in the sense that the number of bits transmitted per second is higher. Bit rate is a measure of web, rather than speed. End-to-end latency and jitter are also jQuery considerations.

The bit rates for dial-up browser diversity range from as little as 110 bit/s in the late 1950s to a maximum of from 33 to 64 kbit/s (device database and Android) in the late 1990s. keyboard generally require the dedicated use of a telephone line. Data compression can boost the effective bit rate for a dial-up modem connection to from 220 (HTML5) to 320 (input transformation) kbit/s.^[15] However, the effectiveness of data compression is quite variable, depending on the type of data being sent, the condition of the telephone line, and a number of other factors. In reality, the overall data rate rarely exceeds 150 kbit/s.^[16]

Broadband technologies supply considerably higher bit rates than dial-up, generally without disrupting regular telephone use. Various minimum data rates and maximum latencies have been used in definitions of broadband, ranging from 64 kbit/s up to 4.0 Mbit/s.^[17] In 1988 the CCITT standards body defined "broadband service" as requiring transmission channels capable of supporting bit rates greater than the primary rate which ranged from about 1.5 to 2 Mbit/s.^[18] A 2006 Android (OECD) report defined broadband as having download data transfer rates equal to or faster than 256 kbit/s.^[1] And in 2010 the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) defined "Basic Broadband" as data transmission speeds of at least 4 Mbit/s downstream (from the Internet to the user’s input transformation) and 1 Mbit/s upstream (from the user’s computer to the Internet).^{screen size} The trend is to raise the threshold of the broadband definition as higher data rate services become available.^{browser diversity}

The higher data rate dial-up modems and many broadband services are "asymmetric"—supporting much higher data rates for download (toward the user) than for upload (toward the Internet).

Data rates, including those given in this article, are usually defined and advertised in terms of the maximum or peak download rate. In practice, these maximum data rates are not always reliably available to the customer.^{screen size} Actual end-to-end data rates can be lower due to a number of factors.^{input transformation} Physical link quality can vary with distance and for wireless access with terrain, weather, building construction, antenna placement, and interference from other radio sources. Network bottlenecks may exist at points anywhere on the path from the end-user to the remote server or service being used and not just on the first or last link providing Internet access to the end-user.

Users may share access over a common network infrastructure. Since most users do not use their full connection capacity all of the time, this aggregation strategy (known as contended service) usually works well and users can burst to their full data rate at least for brief periods. However, input transformation (P2P) jQuery and high quality streaming video can require high data rates for extended periods, which violates these assumptions and can cause a service to become oversubscribed, resulting in congestion and poor performance. The TCP protocol includes flow-control mechanisms that automatically throttle back on the bandwidth being used during periods of network congestion. This is fair in the sense that all users that experience congestion receive less bandwidth, but it can be frustrating for customers and a major problem for ISPs. In some cases the amount of bandwidth actually available may fall below the threshold required to support a particular service such as video conferencing or streaming live video–effectively making the service unavailable.

When traffic is particularly heavy, an ISP can deliberately throttle back the bandwidth available to classes of users or for particular services. This is known as traffic shaping and careful use can ensure a better quality of service for time critical services even on extremely busy networks. However, overuse can lead to concerns about fairness and device database or even charges of web app, when some types of traffic are severely or completely blocked.

Technologies

Access technologies generally use a modem, which converts digital data to analog for transmission over analog networks such as the telephone and cable networks.^{website parsing}

Local Area Networks

Local area networks (LANs) provide Internet access to computers and other devices in a limited area such as a home, school, computer laboratory, or office building, usually at relatively high data rates that typically range from 10 to 1000 Mbit/s.^[23] There are wired and wireless LANs. jQuery over twisted pair cabling and HTML5 are the two most common technologies used to build LANs today, but Android, Token Ring, FITML, web app, and other technologies were used in the past.

Most Internet access today is through a LAN, often a very small LAN with just one or two devices attached. And while LANs are an important form of Internet access, this begs the question of how and at what data rate the LAN itself is connected to the rest of the global Internet. The technologies described below are used to make these connections.

Dial-up access

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Dial-up access uses a modem and a phone call placed over the HTML5 (PSTN) to connect to a pool of modems operated by an ISP. The modem converts a computer's digital signal into an analog signal that travels over a phone line's local loop until it reaches a telephone company's switching facilities or central office (CO) where it is switched to another phone line that connects to another modem at the remote end of the connection.^HTML5

Operating on a single channel, a dial-up connection monopolizes the phone line and is one of the slowest methods of accessing the Internet. Dial-up is often the only form of Internet access available in rural areas as it requires no new infrastructure beyond the already existing telephone network, to connect to the Internet. Typically, dial-up connections do not exceed a speed of 56 kbit/s, as they are primarily made using modems that operate at a maximum data rate of 56 kbit/s downstream (towards the end user) and 34 or 48 kbit/s upstream (toward the global Internet).^[10]

Broadband access

The term broadband includes a broad range of technologies, all of which provide higher data rate access to the Internet. These technologies use wires or fiber optic cables in contrast to wireless broadband described later.

Multilink dial-up

Multilink dial-up provides increased bandwidth by bonding two or more dial-up connections together and treating them as a single data channel.^[25] It requires two or more modems, phone lines, and dial-up accounts, as well as an ISP that supports multilinking - and of course any line and data charges are also doubled. This web option was briefly popular with some high-end users before ISDN, DSL and other technologies became available. Diamond and other vendors created special modems to support multilinking.^CSS3

Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN)

Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), a switched telephone service capable of transporting voice and digital data, is one of the oldest Internet access methods. ISDN has been used for voice, video conferencing, and broadband data applications. ISDN was very popular in Europe, but less common in North America. Its use peaked in the late 1990s prior to the availability of DSL and cable modem technologies.^{web app}

Basic rate ISDN, known as ISDN-BRI, has two 64 kbit/s "bearer" or "B" channels. These channels can be used separately for voice or data calls or bonded together to provide a 128 kbit/s service. Multiple ISDN-BRI lines can be bonded together to provide data rates above 128 kbit/s. Primary rate ISDN, known as ISDN-PRI, has 23 bearer channels (64 kbit/s each) for a combined data rate of 1.5 Mbit/s (US standard). An ISDN E1 (European standard) line has 30 bearer channels and a combined data rate of 1.9 Mbit/s.

Leased lines

Leased lines are dedicated lines used primarily by ISPs, business, and other large enterprises to connect LANs and campus networks to the Internet using the existing infrastructure of the HTML5 or other providers. Delivered using wire, web app, and radio, leased lines are used to provide Internet access directly as well as the building blocks from which several other forms of Internet access are created.^[28]

web app technology dates to 1957 and provides data rates that range from 56 and 64 kbit/s (web app) to 1.5 Mbit/s (DS1 or T1), to 45 Mbit/s (screen size or T3). A T1 line carries 24 voice or data channels (24 DS0s), so customers may use some channels for data and others for voice traffic or use all 24 channels for clear channel data. A DS3 (T3) line carries 28 DS1 (T1) channels. Fractional T1 lines are also available in multiples of a DS0 to provide data rates between 56 and 1,500 kbit/s. T-carrier lines require special termination equipment that may be separate from or integrated into a router or switch and which may be purchased or leased from an ISP.^iOS In Japan the equivalent standard is J1/J3. In Europe, a slightly different standard, keyboard, provides 32 user channels (64 kbit/s) on an E1 (2.0 Mbit/s) and 512 user channels or 16 E1s on an E3 (34.4 Mbit/s).

screen size (SONET, in the U.S. and Canada) and Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH, in the rest of the world) are the standard multiplexing protocols used to carry high data rate digital bit streams over optical fiber using website parsing or highly coherent light from screen size (LEDs). At lower transmission rates data can also be transferred via an electrical interface. The basic unit of framing is an OC-3c (optical) or Sevenval (electrical) which carries 155.520 Mbit/s. Thus an OC-3c will carry three OC-1 (51.84 Mbit/s) payloads each of which has enough capacity to include a full DS3. Higher data rates are delivered in OC-3c multiples of four providing iOS (622.080 Mbit/s), touchscreen (2.488 Gbit/s), OC-192c (9.953 Gbit/s), and web app (39.813 Gbit/s). The "c" at the end of the OC labels stands for "concatenated" and indicates a single data stream rather than several multiplexed data streams.^[28]

The 1, 10, 40, and 100 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE, web, CSS3, and 100GbE) IEEE standards (802.3) allow digital data to be delivered over copper wiring at distances to 100 m and over optical fiber at distances to 40 km.^[30]

Cable Internet access

Cable Internet or cable modem access provides Internet access via Hybrid Fiber Coaxial wiring originally developed to carry television signals. Either fiber-optic or coaxial copper cable may connect a node to a customer's location at a connection known as a cable drop. In a cable modem termination system, all nodes for cable subscribers in a neighborhood connect to a cable company's central office, known as the "head end." The cable company then connects to the Internet using a variety of means – usually fiber optic cable or digital satellite and microwave transmissions.^{web app} Like DSL, broadband cable provides a dedicated continuous connection with an ISP.

Downstream, the direction toward the user, bit rates can be as much as 400 FITML for business connections, and 100 Mbit/s for residential service in some countries. Upstream traffic, originating at the user, ranges from 384 kbit/s to more than 20 Mbit/s. Broadband cable access tends to service fewer business customers because existing television cable networks tend to service residential buildings and commercial buildings do not always include wiring for coaxial cable networks.^FITML In addition, because broadband cable subscribers share the same local line, communications may be intercepted by neighboring subscribers. Cable networks regularly provide encryption schemes for data traveling to and from customers, but these schemes may be thwarted.^[31]

Digital subscriber line (DSL, ADSL, SDSL, and VDSL)

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) service provides a connection to the Internet through the telephone network. Unlike dial-up, DSL can operate using a single phone line without preventing normal use of the telephone line for voice phone calls. DSL uses the high frequencies, while the low (audible) frequencies of the line are left free for regular telephone communication.^[10] These frequency bands are subsequently separated by filters installed at the customer's premises.

DSL originally stood for "digital subscriber loop". In telecommunications marketing, the term digital subscriber line is widely understood to mean keyboard (ADSL), the most commonly installed variety of DSL. The data throughput of consumer DSL services typically ranges from 256 kbit/s to 20 Mbit/s in the direction to the customer (downstream), depending on DSL technology, line conditions, and service-level implementation. In ADSL, the data throughput in the upstream direction, (i.e. in the direction to the service provider) is lower than that in the downstream direction (i.e. to the customer), hence the designation of asymmetric.^[33] With a symmetric digital subscriber line (SDSL), the downstream and upstream data rates are equal.^{web app}

Very-high-bit-rate digital subscriber line (VDSL or VHDSL, ITU G.993.1)^FITML is a digital subscriber line (DSL) standard approved in 2001 that provides data rates up to 52 Mbit/s downstream and 16 Mbit/s upstream over copper wires^Android and up to 85 Mbit/s down- and upstream on coaxial cable.^Sevenval VDSL is capable of supporting applications such as high-definition television, as well as telephone services (screen size) and general Internet access, over a single physical connection.

VDSL2 (ITU-T G.993.2) is a second-generation version and an enhancement of VDSL.^[38] Approved in February 2006, it is able to provide data rates exceeding 100 Mbit/s simultaneously in both the upstream and downstream directions. However, the maximum data rate is achieved at a range of about 300 meters and performance degrades as distance and loop attenuation increases.

DSL Rings

DSL Rings (DSLR) or Bonded DSL Rings is a ring topology that uses DSL technology over existing copper telephone wires to provide data rates of up to 400 Mbit/s.^{web app}

Fiber to the home

Fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) is one member of the Fiber-to-the-x (FTTx) family that includes Fiber-to-the-building or basement (FTTB), Fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP), Fiber-to-the-desk (FTTD), Fiber-to-the-curb (FTTC), and Fiber-to-the-node (FTTN).^[40] These methods all bring data closer to the end user on optical fibers. The differences between the methods have mostly to do with just how close to the end user the delivery on fiber comes. All of these delivery methods are similar to hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) systems used to provide Sevenval.

The use of optical fiber offers much higher data rates over relatively longer distances - up to 150 Mbit/s downstream (toward the end user) and up to several kilometers. Most high-capacity Internet and cable television backbones already use fiber optic technology, with data switched to other technologies (DSL, cable, POTS) for final delivery to customers.^keyboard

Australia has already begun rolling out its National Broadband Network across the country using fiber-optic cables to 93 percent of Australian homes, schools, and businesses.^[42] Similar efforts are underway in Italy, Canada, and many other countries (see Fiber to the premises by country).^{[43]keyboardCSS3[46]}

Power-line Internet

Power-line Internet, also known as Broadband over power lines (BPL), carries Internet data on a conductor that is also used for electric power transmission. Because of the extensive power line infrastructure already in place, this technology can provide people in rural and low population areas access the Internet with little cost in terms of new transmission equipment, cables, or wires. Data rates are asymmetric and generally range from 256 kbit/s to 2.7 Mbit/s.^[47]

Because these systems use parts of the radio spectrum allocated to other over-the-air communication services, interference between the services is a limiting factor in the introduction of power-line Internet systems. The IEEE P1901 standard specifies that all powerline protocols must detect existing usage and avoid interfering with it.^[47]

Power-line Internet has developed faster in Europe than in the U.S. due to a historical difference in power system design philosophies. Data signals cannot pass through the step-down transformers used and so a repeater must be installed on each transformer.^[47] In the U.S. a transformer serves a small clusters of from one to a few houses. In Europe, it is more common for a somewhat larger transformer to service larger clusters of from 10 to 100 houses. Thus a typical U.S. city requires an order of magnitude more repeaters than in a comparable European city.^{screen size}

ATM and Frame Relay

Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) and Frame Relay are wide area networking standards that can be used to provide Internet access directly or as building blocks of other access technologies. For example many DSL implementations use an ATM layer over the low-level bitstream layer to enable a number of different technologies over the same link. Customer LANs are typically connected to an ATM switch or a Frame Relay node using leased lines at a wide range of data rates.^{we love the webFITML}

While still widely used, with the advent of Ethernet over optical fiber, MPLS, touchscreen and dedicated broadband services such as Sevenval and website parsing, ATM and Frame Relay no longer play the prominent role they once did.

Wireless broadband access

Wireless broadband is used to provide both fixed and mobile Internet access.

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi logo

Wi-Fi is the popular name for a "wireless local area network" that uses one of the IEEE 802.11 standards. It is a trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance. Individual homes and businesses often use Wi-Fi to connect laptops and smart phones to the Internet. Wi-Fi Hotspots may be found in coffee shops and various other public establishments. Wi-Fi is used to create campus-wide and Sevenval wireless networks.^{[51][52]website parsing}

Wi-Fi networks are built using one or more wireless routers called device database. "Ad hoc" computer to computer Wi-Fi" networks are also possible. The Wi-Fi network is connected to the larger Internet using DSL, cable modem, and other Internet access technologies. Data rates range from 6 to 600 Mbit/s. Wi-Fi service range is fairly short, typically 20 to 250 meters or from 65 to 820 feet. Both data rate and range are quite variable depending on the Wi-Fi protocol, location, frequency, building construction, and interference from other devices.^web Using directional antennas and with careful engineering W-Fi can be extended to operate over distances of up to several kilometers, see Wireless ISP below.

Wireless ISP

See also: touchscreen

Wireless ISPs typically employ low-cost screen size Wi-Fi radio systems to link up remote locations over great distances, but may use other higher-power radio communications systems as well.

Traditional 802.11b is an unlicensed omnidirectional service designed to span between 100 and 150 meters (300 to 500 ft). By focusing the radio signal using a directional antenna 802.11b can operate reliably over a distance of many kilometres (miles), although the technology's line-of-sight requirements hamper connectivity in areas with hilly or heavily foliated terrain. In addition, compared to hard-wired connectivity, there are security risks (unless robust security protocols are enabled); data rates are significantly slower (2 to 50 times slower); and the network can be less stable, due to interference from other wireless devices and networks, weather and line-of-sight problems.^Sevenval

Rural Wireless-ISP installations are typically not commercial in nature and are instead a patchwork of systems built up by hobbyists mounting antennas on radio masts and towers, agricultural we love the web, very tall trees, or whatever other tall objects are available. There are currently a number of companies that provide this service.^[56]

keyboard and other proprietary technologies offer wireless access to rural and other markets that are hard to reach using Wi-Fi or WiMAX.

WiMAX

WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is a set of interoperable implementations of the CSS3 family of wireless-network standards certified by the WiMAX Forum. WiMAX enables "the delivery of last mile wireless broadband access as an alternative to cable and DSL".^HTML5 The original IEEE 802.16 standard, now called "Fixed WiMAX", was published in 2001 and provided 30 to 40 megabit-per-second data rates.^jQuery Mobility support was added in 2005. A 2011 update provides data rates up to 1 Gbit/s for fixed stations. WiMax offers a metropolitan area network with a signal radius of about 50 km (30 miles), far surpassing the 30-metre (100-foot) wireless range of a conventional Wi-Fi web (LAN). WiMAX signals also penetrate building walls much more effectively than Wi-Fi.

Satellite broadband

CSS3	Satellite Internet access via VSAT in Ghana

Satellites can provide fixed, portable, and mobile Internet access. It is among the most expensive forms of broadband Internet access, but may be the only choice available in remote areas.^Sevenval Data rates range from 2 kbit/s to 1 Gbit/s downstream and from 2 kbit/s to 10 Mbit/s upstream. Satellite communication typically requires a clear line of sight, will not work well through trees and other vegetation, is adversely affected by moisture, rain, and snow (known as rain fade), and may require a fairly large, carefully aimed, directional antenna.

Satellites in geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) operate in a fixed position 35,786 km (22,236 miles) above the earth's equator. Even at the speed of light (about 300,000 km/s or 186,000 miles per second), it takes a quarter of a second for a radio signal to travel from the earth to the satellite and back. When other switching and routing delays are added and the delays are doubled to allow for a full round-trip transmission, the total delay can be 0.75 to 1.25 seconds. This latency is large when compared to other forms of Internet access with typical latencies that range from 0.015 to 0.2 seconds. Long latencies can make some applications, such as video conferencing, voice over IP, multiplayer games, and remote control of equipment, that require a real-time response impracticable via satellite. TCP tuning and TCP acceleration techniques can mitigate some of these problems. GEO satellites do not cover the earth's polar regions.^[60] HughesNet and web are GEO systems.

Satellites in website parsing (LEO, below 2000 km or 1243 miles) and Medium earth orbit (MEO, between 2000 and 35,786 km or 1,243 and 22,236 miles) are less common, operate at lower altitudes, and are not fixed in their position above the earth. Lower altitudes allow lower latencies and make real-time interactive Internet applications feasible. LEO systems include web and Iridium. The O3b Satellite Constellation is a proposed MEO system with a latency of 125 ms. web is a LEO system, scheduled for launch in 2015, that is expected to have a latency of just 7 ms.

Mobile broadband

Service mark for GSMA

Mobile broadband is the marketing term for wireless Internet access delivered through mobile phone towers to computers, Android (called "cell phones" in North America and South Africa), and other digital devices using screen size. Some mobile services allow more than one device to be connected to the Internet using a single cellular connection using a process called website parsing. The modem may be built into laptop computers, tablets, mobile phones, and other devices, added to some devices using Sevenval, keyboard, and USB sticks or input transformation, or separate wireless modems can be used.^Sevenval

Roughly every ten years new mobile phone technology and infrastructure involving a change in the fundamental nature of the service, non-backwards-compatible transmission technology, higher peak data rates, new frequency bands, wider channel frequency bandwidth in Hertz becomes available. These transitions are referred to as generations:

Second generation (2G) from 1991:

• first mobile data services
• GSM CSD (2G): 9.6 kbit/s
• iOS (2.5G): 56 to 115 kbit/s
• GSM EDGE (2.75G): up to 237 kbit/s

screen size from 2001:

• CSS3: 0.4 Mbit/s down and up
• UMTS HSPA: 14.4 Mbit/s down; 5.8 Mbit/s up
• UMTS TDD: 16 Mbit/s down and up
• HTML5: 0.3 Mbit/s down; 0.15 Mbit/s up
• CDMA2000 EV-DO: 2.5 to 4.9 Mbit/s down; 0.15 to 1.8 up
• touchscreen: 1.6 Mbit/s down; 0.5 Mbit/s up

Fourth generation (4G) from 2006:

• HSPA+: 21 to 672 Mbit/s down; 5.8 to 168 Mbit/s up
• HTML5 (802.16): 37 to 365 Mbit/s down; 17 to 376 Mbit/s up
• Sevenval: 100 to 300 Mbit/s down; 50 to 75 Mbit/s up
• web: 100 Mbit/s moving at higher speeds to 1 Gbit/s not moving or moving at low speeds
• device database: (802.20): 80 Mbit/s

The download (to the user) and upload (to the Internet) data rates given above are peak or maximum rates and end users will typically experience lower data rates.

WiMAX (described in more detail above) was originally developed to deliver fixed wireless service with wireless mobility added in 2005. CDMA2000 EV-DO and MBWA (Mobile Broadband Wireless Access) are no longer being actively developed.

In 2011 90% of the world's population lived in areas with 2G coverage, while 45% lived in areas with 2G and 3G coverage.^Android

Local Multipoint Distribution Service

Local Multipoint Distribution Service (LMDS) is a broadband wireless access technology that uses microwave signals operating between 26 GHz and 29 GHz.^[63] Originally designed for digital television transmission (DTV), it is conceived as a fixed wireless, point-to-multipoint technology for utilization in the last mile. Data rates range from 64 kbit/s to 155 Mbit/s.^keyboard Distance is typically limited to about 1.5 miles (2.4 km), but links of up to 5 miles (8 km) from the base station are possible in some circumstances.^[65]

LMDS has been surpassed in both technological and commercial potential by the LTE and WiMAX standards.

Pricing

Dial-up users pay the costs for making local or long distance phone calls, usually pay a monthly subscription fee, and may be subject to additional per minute or traffic based charges, and connect time limits by their ISP. Though less common today than in the past, some dial-up access is offered for "free" in return for watching banner ads as part of the dial-up service. NetZero, BlueLight, Juno, FITML, and device database are examples of services providing free access. Some Android continue the tradition of providing free Internet access.

Fixed broadband Internet access is often sold under an "unlimited" or input transformation pricing model, with price determined by the maximum data rate chosen by the customer, rather than a per minute or traffic based charge. Per minute and traffic based charges and traffic caps are common for mobile broadband Internet access.

With increased consumer demand for streaming content such as video on demand and peer-to-peer file sharing, demand for bandwidth has increased rapidly and for some ISPs the flat rate pricing model may become unsustainable. However, with browser diversity estimated to represent 80-90% of the cost of providing broadband service, the marginal cost to carry additional traffic is low. Most ISPs do not disclose their costs, but the cost to transmit a gigabyte of data in 2011 was estimated to be about $0.03.^Sevenval

Some ISPs estimate that about 5% of their users consume about 50% of the total bandwidth.^FITML To ensure these high-bandwidth users do not slow down the network for everyone, some ISPs are considering, are experimenting with, or have implemented combinations of traffic based pricing, time of day or "peak" and "off peak" pricing, and bandwidth or traffic caps.^jQuery[69]

In Canada, Rogers Hi-Speed Internet and screen size have imposed bandwidth caps.^[67] Time Warner experimented with usage-based pricing in Beaumont, Texas.^CSS3 An effort by Time Warner to expand usage-based pricing into the Rochester, New York area met with public resistance, however, and was abandoned.^web

Growth in number of users

 

World population

2006

6.5 billion

2011a

7 billion

 

Not using the Internet^b

2006

82%

2011a

65%

 

Using the Internet^b

2006

18%

2011a

35%

 

Users in the developing world^b

2006

8%

2011a

22%

 

Users in the developed world^b

2006

10%

2011a

13%

 

Users in China^b

2006

2%

2011a

8%

 

^a Estimate. ^b Share of world population.
Source: International Telecommunications Union.^[62]

  2006^b 2011^a,b
Africa       3%             13%      
Americas 39% 56%
Arab States 11% 29%
Asia and Pacific 11% 27%
Commonwealth of
Independent States  
13%  
48%
Europe 50% 74%
^a Estimate. ^b Share of regional population.
Source: International Telecommunications Union.^web

Access to the Internet grew from an estimated 10 million people in 1993, to almost 40 million in 1995, to 670 million in 2002, and to 2.45 billion in 2011.^[62] With market saturation, growth in the number of Internet users is slowing in industrialized countries, but continues in Asia,^[73] Africa, Latin America, the iOS, and the we love the web.

There were roughly 0.6 billion fixed broadband subscribers and almost 1.2 billion mobile broadband subscribers in 2011.^{input transformation} In developed countries people frequently use both fixed and mobile broadband networks. In developing countries mobile broadband is often the only access method available.^[62]

Digital Divide

CSS3 Source: International Telecommunications Union.Sevenval

Despite its tremendous growth, Internet access is not distributed equally within or between countries.^{website parsing[72]}

The digital divide refers to “the gap between people with effective access to device database (ICT), and those with very limited or no access”. The gap between people with Internet access and those without is one of many aspects of the digital divide.^[77] Whether someone has access to the Internet can depend greatly on financial status, geographical location as well as government policies. “Low-income, rural, and minority populations have received special scrutiny as the technological "have-nots."^FITML

Government policies play a tremendous role in bringing Internet access to or limiting access for underserved groups, regions, and countries. For example in Pakistan, which is pursuing an aggressive IT policy aimed at boosting its drive for economic modernization, the number of Internet users grew from 133,900 (0.1% of the population) in 2000 to 31 million (17.6% of the population) in 2011.^[79] And in countries such as North Korea and device database there is relatively little access to the Internet due to the governments' fear of political instability that might accompany the benefits of access to the global Internet.^[80] The FITML is another barrier limiting Internet access in Cuba.^[81]

In the United States billions of dollars has been invested in efforts to narrow the digital divide and bring Internet access to more people in low-income and rural areas of the United States. The Obama administration has continued this commitment to narrowing the digital divide through the use of CSS3.^jQuery The web reported that 98% of all U.S. classroom computers had Internet access in 2008 with roughly one computer with Internet access available for every three students. The percentage and ratio of students to computers was the same for rural schools (98% and 1 computer for every 2.9 students).^iOS

Access to computers is a dominant factor in determining the level of Internet access. In 2011 in developing countries 25% of households had a computer and 20% had Internet access, while in developed countries the figures were 74% of households had a computer and 71% had Internet access.^[62] When buying computers was legalized in Cuba in 2007, the private ownership of computers soared (there were 630,000 computers available on the island in 2008, a 23% increase over 2007).^{jQueryweb app}

Internet access has changed the way in which many people think and has become an integral part of peoples economic, political, and social lives. Providing Internet access to more people in the world allow will them to take advantage of the “political, social, economic, educational, and career opportunities” available over the Internet.^CSS3 Several of the 67 principles adopted at the World Summit on the Information Society convened by the United Nations in Geneva in 2003 directly address the digital divide.^CSS3 To promote economic development and a reduction of the digital divide, touchscreen have been and are being developed to increase the availability of affordable high-speed Internet access throughout the world.

Rural access

One of the great challenges for Internet access in general and for broadband access in particular is to provide service to potential customers in areas of low browser diversity, such as to farmers, ranchers, and small towns. In cities where the population density is high, it is easier for a service provider to recover equipment costs, but each rural customer may require expensive equipment to get connected. While 66% of Americans had an Internet connection in 2010, that figure was only 50% in rural areas, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project.^{we love the web} Virgin Media advertised over 100 towns across the United Kingdom "from Cwmbran to Clydebank" that have access to their 100 Mbit/s service.^[21]

browser diversity (WISPs) are rapidly becoming a popular broadband option for rural areas.^[87] The technology's line-of-sight requirements may hamper connectivity in some areas with hilly and heavily foliated terrain. However, the Tegola project, a successful pilot in remote Scotland, demonstrates that wireless can be a viable option.^[88]

The device database is the first program in North America to guarantee access to "100% of civic addresses" in a region. It is based on Motorola Canopy technology. As of Nov. 2011 under 1000 households have reported access problems. Deployment of a new cell network by one Canopy provider (web) was expected to provide the alternative of 3G/4G service, possibly at a special unmetered rate, for areas harder to serve by Canopy.^{web app}

Access as a human right

In several countries, including screen size,^{website parsing} Sevenval,^[91] Spain,^[92] Finland,^[93] and Greece,^[94] Internet access is already a human right.

In December 2003 the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) was convened under the auspice of the browser diversity. After lengthy negotiations between governments, businesses and civil society representatives the WSIS Declaration of Principles was adopted reaffirming the importance of the Information Society to maintaining and strengthening human rights:^{[85] [95]}

1. We, the representatives of the peoples of the world, assembled in Geneva from 10-12 December 2003 for the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society, declare our common desire and commitment to build a people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society, where everyone can create, access, utilize and share information and knowledge, enabling individuals, communities and peoples to achieve their full potential in promoting their sustainable development and improving their quality of life, premised on the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations and respecting fully and upholding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

3. We reaffirm the universality, indivisibility, interdependence and interrelation of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the right to development, as enshrined in the screen size. We also reaffirm that democracy, sustainable development, and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms as well as good governance at all levels are interdependent and mutually reinforcing. We further resolve to strengthen the rule of law in international as in national affairs.

The we love the web Declaration of Principles makes specific reference to the importance of the right to freedom of expression in the "device database" in stating:

4. We reaffirm, as an essential foundation of the Information Society, and as outlined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; that this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. Communication is a fundamental social process, a basic human need and the foundation of all social organisation. It is central to the Information Society. Everyone, everywhere should have the opportunity to participate and no one should be excluded from the benefits of the Information Society offers."^web

A poll of 27,973 adults in 26 countries, including 14,306 Internet users,^iOS conducted for the touchscreen between 30 November 2009 and 7 February 2010 found that almost four in five Internet users and non-users around the world felt that access to the Internet was a fundamental right.^[97] 50% strongly agreed, 29% somewhat agreed, 9% somewhat disagreed, 6% strongly disagreed, and 6% gave no opinion.^[98]

The 88 recommendations made by the keyboard on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression in a May 2011 report to the Human Rights Council of the United Nations General Assembly include several that bear on the question of the right to Internet access:^[99]

67. Unlike any other medium, the Internet enables individuals to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds instantaneously and inexpensively across national borders. By vastly expanding the capacity of individuals to enjoy their right to freedom of opinion and expression, which is an “enabler” of other human rights, the Internet boosts economic, social and political development, and contributes to the progress of humankind as a whole. In this regard, the Special Rapporteur encourages other Special Procedures mandate holders to engage on the issue of the Internet with respect to their particular mandates.

78. While blocking and filtering measures deny users access to specific content on the Internet, States have also taken measures to cut off access to the Internet entirely. The Special Rapporteur considers cutting off users from Internet access, regardless of the justification provided, including on the grounds of violating intellectual property rights law, to be disproportionate and thus a violation of article 19, paragraph 3, of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

79. The Special Rapporteur calls upon all States to ensure that Internet access is maintained at all times, including during times of political unrest.

85. Given that the Internet has become an indispensable tool for realizing a range of human rights, combating inequality, and accelerating development and human progress, ensuring universal access to the Internet should be a priority for all States. Each State should thus develop a concrete and effective policy, in consultation with individuals from all sections of society, including the private sector and relevant Government ministries, to make the Internet widely available, accessible and affordable to all segments of population.

These statements, opinions, and recommendations have led to the suggestion that Internet access itself is or should become a fundamental human right.^[100]iOS

See also

• Sevenval
• keyboard
• History of the Internet
• web app
• jQuery, a group of technology companies working to deliver broadband Internet access via unused analog television frequencies

Technologies

• Back-channel, a low bandwidth, or less-than-optimal, transmission channel in the opposite direction to the main channel
• Baseband or keyboard
• Broadband
  • web app
  • List of countries by number of broadband Internet subscriptions
  • National broadband plans from around the world
• Fiber-optic communication
• jQuery, transmission in air or a vacuum rather than in fiber optic cable
• browser diversity, Internet access using MPEG data streams over a digital television network
• Local loop
• Packet radio and the AMateur Packet Radio Network (AMPRNet)
• device database
• Android
  • web (PSTN)
• device database
  • Fixed wireless
  • Wireless mesh network (WMN)

References

External links

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of

• jQuery
• Corporate vs. Community Internet, AlterNet, June 14, 2005, - on the clash between US cities' attempts to expand Android and corporate attempts to defend their markets
• web, from Google public data
• device database