The Take: What you Take from the ISP

The Take: What you Take from the ISP

Internet e-mail address You use e-mail addresses to send and receive e-mail once you�re connected to the Internet. Usually, the e-mail address is your username and domain name of the ISP. It has three parts: the username; the at symbol (@); and the domain name. Pat Buckman�s e-mail would be pbuckman@isp.com. The trick to using and sharing your e-mail address is to use it exactly as you get it. If you make any changes to the address, you might get back a message marked Return to Sender.
Domain name A domain name is the name assigned to your ISP, such as compuserve.com or iquest.net.
Host name This is your computer�s name on the Internet. Although you might want to assign this yourself, your ISP must do this because it is only effective when you�re connected to the ISP. Usually, the host name is simply your username.
IP address Your IP (Internet Protocol) address is like a street address, but with numbers only. IP addresses are four-part numbers separated by periods, and they must be entered exactly as your ISP gives it to you (170.203.93.5). Sometimes, you will not be given an IP address to enter on your computer because your ISP will assign an IP address to you each time you log into the Internet. These type of IP addresses are called dynamic IP addresses. Ask your ISP if you need an IP address to get connected with the provider.
DNS Server Like the IP address, the DNS server is a four-part number separated by periods that is assigned to your ISP.
News and e-mail server names These are the names of the ISP�s usenet news and e-mail servers. E-mail server names may be pop.uunet.com. News server names may be nntp.uunet.com. Like e-mail addresses, these need to be typed exactly as the ISP gives them to you. Otherwise, you won�t be able to read your e-mail or subscribe to usenet newsgroups.