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MAP03: LEVELS OF INTERNET CONNECTIVITY


     "A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single
      step." -- Lao-Tsu, The Way of Lao-Tsu


Welcome back to the first full week of the Roadmap workshop! It looks
like we survived another weekend without a squirrel attack. Yay :)
(by the way, the :) is an "emoticon" smile; put your left ear on your
left shoulder to see it). Today's lesson is really simple, but you'll
find that it's going to save you a lot of heartache and confusion in
the long run (it may also convince you to go out and get a PPP or SLIP
connection).

There are generally three levels of Internet connectivity (although there
are several variations on the three levels). For our purposes, I am
just going to call these three levels "Level One," "Level Two," and
"Level Three."

Before I talk about the three levels of connectivity, experience shows
that I have to say the following to keep myself from being overrun
with e-mail: the "three level approach" to Internet connectivity is
a very simplified view of the different ways that you can access the
Internet. It does not take into account UUCP, TIA, Trumpet Winsock,
or the recent expansion of some BBS' into a combination Level I and
Level II access. This oversimplification is on purpose. Please recognize
that I have taken some editorial liberties in this lesson to make
the lesson easier to understand for the new users (a.k.a. "newbies").

Level One connectivity ("access through a gateway") is access to the
Internet from a network that really isn't "on" the Internet. Picture
two circles that touch each other at only one point. One of the circles
is the Internet, the other circle is a non-Internet network, and the
point where the two networks touch is called a gateway. The gateway allows
the two networks to "talk" to each other, but users of the non-Internet
network are limited in their ability to fully access all of the tools
of the Internet. With Level One connectivity, you are limited to what
you can access on the Internet by what your service provider allows
you to access.

A good example of networks with Level One connectivity is America
On-Line (AOL), Compuserve, Prodigy, and many of the other commercial
on-line services. AOL is, in effect, its own little network. It has a
great number of different programs that its subscribers can use, but ALL
of these programs only run on the AOL network.

AOL subscribers, and the subscribers to most of the other commercial
on-line services, are lucky in the fact that they can still access SOME
of the tools of the Internet through their gateway. A lot of people
with Level One connectivity only have e-mail access (by the way, if
you have Level One connectivity, do not worry -- I'll show you how
to access a lot of the Internet's tools using e-mail (it's not easy,
but you can do it)).

Level Two Internet access ("remote modem access") is access through a
dial-up terminal connection. This is where, through the use of a modem,
you access a "host" and your computer acts like it is a terminal
on that mainframe. You may type the commands on your own computer, but
it is the host that carries out your commands.

Level Two connectivity is the most "popular" (in the sense that more
people have Level Two connectivity than any other level) and the most
misunderstood level of connectivity.

To begin with, Level Two connectivity limits you to using the
programs (also known as "clients") that are running on the
host. If, for example, you hear of this hot new client called
"Mosaic" and you want to try it out, if your host does not have
a Mosaic client on it you are out of luck! Putting a copy of the Mosaic
client software on your own computer won't do ANYTHING for you --
remember that the only programs that you can use when you have
Level Two connectivity are the programs that the host has!

Also, with Level Two connectivity you must always remember that
everything you are doing is through the host, NOT through your
own computer. If you download a file from somewhere (like we did
last Friday with the GET command) that file will go to the host,
NOT to your own personal computer. You'll need to download the file
one more time -- this time from the host to your computer --
if you want the file to be on YOUR computer. (Your local Internet
provider can tell you more about this).

Level Three connectivity ("Direct Internet Access") is the highest, and
most expensive, level of connectivity there is. With Level Three
connectivity, you are directly wired into the Internet using high-speed
telephone lines, and you are "on-line" twenty-four hours a day, seven
days a week. Level Three connectivity is great if you are a mainframe
or a major site with hundreds of users, but is not too advantageous
if you are a sole user with a beat-up PC.

Besides, Level Three Internet access is so incredibly expensive (1)
(the University of Alabama pays $29,000.00 (US) each and every
year just to connect to the Internet, and that doesn't include
the software, hardware, facility, and staff expenses) that, until
recently, Level Three connectivity was limited to large corporations
and Universities. Also, because Level Three connectivity is limited
mostly to mainframes, you as a user are still limited to using the
programs that are already loaded on the mainframe.

Thanks to some recent breakthroughs in modems and telephone lines, there
is a new branch of Level Three connectivity which is called "On-Demand
Direct Connectivity." Since you probably aren't going to spend
twenty-four hours a day on the Internet, there are some sites out there
that will let you connect to the Internet whenever you want using a
high speed modem and something called  "Point to Point Protocol (PPP)"
or "Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP)" connection.

There are two cool things about PPP and SLIP connections. First, because
you aren't connected to the Internet all day long, it doesn't cost as
much as regular Level Three connectivity (you can find sites that will
only charge you about $40 or $50 US (that's about $29,547,952.00
Canadian -- I'm kidding :) -- month for a PPP or SLIP connection).
The second cool thing about PPP and SLIP connections is that the
client software is stored on YOUR computer. Want to play with
Mosaic? Load it onto your computer and play with it (you can't do
this with any of the other levels of connectivity).

The one bad thing about PPP and SLIP connections is that they are
a relatively scarce commodity. Not may Internet service providers
offer PPP and SLIP connections, but the number of providers offering
PPP and SLIP connections will certainly increase over time :)

In review, there are three levels of Internet connectivity:

     LEVEL     DESCRIPTION                 COMMENTS

     One       Access through a Gateway    Limited Internet access

     Two       Remote modem access         Most "popular"
                                           Commands executed by host
                                           All programs on host
                                           Can only run client software
                                             already on the host
                                           All files on host unless
                                             you download to your computer

     Three     Direct Access               EXPENSIVE! (1)
                                           24 hour connection
                                           All software on mainframe

     --        PPP/SLIP                    Not all that expensive
                                           Connect when you want
                                           Client software on YOUR computer!


TOMORROW: E-mail!!

HOMEWORK:

     I want you to find out what level of Internet connectivity
     you have. (Remember, please don't send your answers to me).

NOTES:

(1) While non-profit organizations can get direct access for about
    $6500 (US) a year, this price is still outside of the budget of
    most people.

SOURCES:

I want to thank Liz and Gerald Lawley at Internet Training and Consulting
Services, a professional Internet training company here in Tuscaloosa, for
their help with this lesson. The idea for this lesson came from a recent
conversation I had with Liz and Gerald, and an ITCS training guide served
as the outline for this lesson. I can not thank Liz and Gerald (and ITCS)
enough for their continued help and support.


   PATRICK DOUGLAS CRISPEN    THE VIEWS EXPRESSED IN THIS LETTER DO NOT
    [e-mail]      NECESSARILY REPRESENT THE VIEWS OF THE
  THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA      UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA - TUSCALOOSA

      ROADMAP: COPYRIGHT PATRICK CRISPEN 1994. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.