Internet service provider

Internet Service Provider (ISP), provider of Internet services. Most telecommunications operators are ISPs. Provides services like internet transit[?], domain name registration and hosting, dial-up access, leased line[?] access and colocation.

Trend

In the first few years of the Twenty-first Century, many ISPs in the United States have been facing challenges. The stock-market for the telecommunications and IT-related industries went down sharply, and many ISPs were forced to go down, restructure itself, sell itself to another company, or merge with others. The slower-than-expected growth of broadband services, key decisions on broadband open access matters all added harshness to the environment in which they have to survive.

Among the affected are for-profit free ISPs, such as NetZero[?] and Juno Online Services[?], BlueLight[?]; (mostly non-profit) community networks; major players such as AOL, EarthLink[?], MindSpring[?], and AT&T; DSL providers such as Covad[?], NorthPoint Communications[?], and Rhythms NetConnections[?]; and a cable broadband ISP Excite at Home[?].

Other relevant acronyms:

• IAP (Internet Access Provider[?])
• NSP[?] (Network Service Provider[?])

Other additional services may include:

• Broadband access
  • DSL -- Digital Subscriber Line
  • Fixed wireless access
  • Cable
• Web hosting services
• Usenet servers
• Email sevices
• DNS
  • Dynamic DNS

See also:

• Peering
• Telco

Famous ISPs:

• AOL
• Compuserve[?]
• Demon Internet[?]
• Earthlink[?]
• Freeserve[?]
• Prodigy[?]
• UUNET/PIPEX[?]
• XS4ALL
• Boingo[?]

For your daily dose of ISP lore, see the comic strip User Friendly.