How Does It Work?

The Internet is a global network of computers linked via telephone cables and optic fibres. Some of these computers are constantly connected to the Internet while others just drop in for a visit. Every computer permanently connected to the net store (or hosts) a bunch of information which can be accessed by other net users.

To get to that information, you need to link your computer to another one, which is already on-line, or a part of the Internet. You can link two computers together with a cable, which is what happens when you connect to an Internet Service Provider from home or business. While you are connected to that other computer, you become one of the millions of computers, which make up the Internet.

WHAT'S AN INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER?
An Internet Service Provider is in basic terms a company with a fast computer, which is permanently connected to the Internet through a big pipe. TPG is an Internet Service Provider. TPG sells you the right to connect to their computer and use part of its pipeline to the rest of the world. Once you have an Internet connection you can access any of the information on any one of the million computers connected to the net. You can also provide your own information for other people to access.

To get your computer to talk to your ISP's computer, you need a modem, which helps to translate your computer's digital signals into the telephone line's analogue signals, and you need software which will help your computer speak to other computers. You can buy a modem from any good computer store. Try and get one of the latest models for better speed and support. Some of the software you need may have come with your computer. Other pieces of software should be given to you by your ISP. Still others you can download (transfer to your computer) once you are connected.

IS THAT ALL?
In the next couple of pages, we explain how to find an ISP, how to use the Web, how to send email and how to transfer files across the Internet. These are the three main activities which people do on the Internet to start with. You can also read news groups, play computer games, chat online, have videoconferences or use a phone to talk to people around the world.

Choosing An ISP

Your Internet service provider is your lifeline to the Internet, and its very important that the company you choose is going to be a help to you and not a hindrance.

COST
Most ISP's charge an hourly rate between 50 cents and $10. A few charge a monthly fee with no time charge. There are also on and off peak rates and discounts for high usage. Some also have per megabyte charges. This refers to how much data you access. This can get quite expensive if you are down loading large files and accessing multitudes of Web pages. Other charges will be registration and set-up fees and there may be a charge of any extra storage space if you create a Web page. Some ISP's also charge for technical support.

If you mainly wish to use email and news groups, you can do most of this off-line and you may find an hourly rate quite acceptable. If you think you are likely to have midnight till dawn games sessions, chat for hours or spend hours researching you may require to stay online longer, a flat rate may be preferable.

PERFORMANCE
Some computers on the Internet have bigger pipes - connections than others. The faster the transfer rates the better, and the closer to the 'core' or 'backbone' of the network the better. For example, an ISP with a direct route to the US is going to achieve better transfer rates with US sites. When a large number of people are all trying to access and download information at once this also slows the transfer rate down. For example, 100 people accessing a 64Kbps line is going to work better than 500 people accessing a 128Kbps line.

GETTING ON
When you dial your ISP there needs to be an available modem at the other end for you to connect to. If the ISP has too many users and not enough modems, you will often get an engaged signal and have to re-dial. This game of musical chairs can be extremely annoying, so ask your potential ISP about its modem to user ratio. An acceptable rate is 1:15 but below 1:10 is preferable.

An ISP also needs to keep the machinery churning at all times. This is harder than it sounds: an ISP may be out of action for a few hours or experience equipment faults which will affect your ability to logon and access parts of the net. It is very difficult to know how an ISP rates with regard to this until you have used it for a while. If you can, ask people who have used a particular ISP about their experience.

TYPE OF ACCOUNT
Most Internet accounts that you can get today are called PPP accounts. This stands for Point-to-Point Protocol. They are the preferred accounts for new users and are the most user friendly. This type of account should allow you to do most of the things you wish to do on the net.

CUSTOMER SUPPORT
Most ISP's offer initial customer support as part of the setup or registration fee. However some ISP's are for experienced users only, so if you need support make sure the ISP can give it to you. Also check the hours of support and whether support is free or charged out.

LOCATION
Most importantly, to avoid STD charges, choose an ISP that is in you local area. There are also a few Australian ISP's that offer a toll free number. Choose an ISP that suits your needs and offers the best value for money. Your ISP should provide you with a starter package containing pre-configured software and be able to take you through the set up step by step.

Make sure you can join the ISP for one month at a time to start with. That way, if you have a problem, you can change services. Remember, your experience of the Internet depends on them.

What Is The Web?

The World Wide Web is rather like a huge electronic magazine with different pages stored on different computers around the world. To access the World Wide Web, you need software called a Web browser. The two most popular Web browsers are Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer.

GETTING A WEB PAGE
To get to one of the pages of this electronic magazine, you have to start up your Web browser and enter the address of the Web page. All resources on the Internet have a Uniform Resource locator (URL) or address. An example of a Web address is http://www.fake.com/directory/index.html. The http stands for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol. It tells your web browser that this is a Web document and that it should use the hypertext transfer protocol to access the information.

The next set of words (www.fake.com) is the Web Domain Name for the server you are visiting. It is the address of the computer which is storing the information. Domain names exist so we poor humans can remember the addresses of all the computers on the net more easily. In fact, the address is a bunch of numbers, and the computer has to look up a big list of names to find the number, which matches it. Anything after the domain name is the pathway to the exact directory and file the browser must access.

USING A WEB BROWSER
When you first open your Web browser it will automatically load the homepage (main Web page) of the browser's manufacturer. From the page that loads you can see the basic elements of a Web page. You have text and graphics, some of which are in different colours. These different coloured items are hyperlinks to another Web page. If you click on one of them a new Web page will load.

What has been coined surfing the Web is linking from page to page - from hyperlink to hyperlink. You can go on an endless adventure from page to page, turning back if you come to a dead end or loading an entirely new page altogether.

FTP, or File Transfer Protocol, is used to transfer files across the Internet from one computer to another. To download files, you need software called an FTP client, such as CuteFTP or Fetch, or you can also use your Web Browser if you wish. Some of the computers connected to the net have a large archive of files. These computers are called FTP sites. To download a file from one of these sites, you need to start up the FTP client software on your computer and enter the address of the FTP site. An FTP address can look like this: ftp://ftp.fake.com.au/pub/directory/file.zip, although sometimes it will look like a regular URL.

What Is E-Mail?

E-mail is an electronic version of sending a letter, only with distinct advantages - you can send it at anytime of the day without leaving your home or office and it will arrive in the receiver's mailbox minutes later, even if the receiver lives on the other side of the world. (The receiver still needs to check their mailbox to get the messages).

To use e-mail, you need software called an e-mail client. Popular e-mail clients for PC are Outlook, Eudora and Pegasus mail.

Popular e-mail clients for Macintosh are Eudora and Claris Emailer. You can also use the e-mail client which came with your Web Browser if you wish to. If your ISP has provided you with an older e-mail client or hasn't given you one at all, you can download the latest version from the Internet.

UNDERSTANDING E-MAIL
Your e-mail address is usually your username, followed by an @, followed by the domain name of the Internet Service provider you are connecting through. If your name is John Doe, your dial-in name is johnd, and you are connecting through Fake ISP Inc., whose domain name is fake.com.au, your e-mail address will be johnd@fake.com.au.

Fake is the ISP name, com is the abbreviation for company and au is the country code (in this case Australia). If you left out the .au then the e-mail might be delivered to someone there (as the US rarely uses its .us country code). If instead of .au you put .uk then the e-mail would be sent to England.

SENDING AND RECEIVING E-MAIL
To send and receive e-mail you will need to start your e-mail program on your computer. All of the e-mail shareware programs come with basic help files to get you started. You will have to ask your ISP for some of the variables, such as your PoP account and e-mail (SMTP) server if you weren't given this information when you joined up. You e-mail program takes care of everything behind the scenes once it has this information.

SMTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol and used to transfer e-mail from server to server across the Internet. When e-mail is sent to you, it is stored on the server until accessed by you. The address of SMTP server is usually the domain name preceded by the word email. For example, email.fake.com.au.