Internet and Email

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Welcome all.  Here I'll explain how to get on the internet, what to do once you're on it, and how to set up and use email.

The net, defined

First of all, what is the internet?  To clear up any initial confusion, let me just say that AOL is not the internet.  AOL is just one of many hundreds of Internet Service Providers ("ISPs").  AOL didn't make the internet, they don't own the internet, they don't control what's on the internet.  All they do is rip you off, and provide you with a (rather sick) way of accessing the internet.

An ISP just provides you with a connection to the internet.  Once you're connected, you can do lots of stuff:

  • browse websites with a browser (like Mozilla or Internet Explorer or Netscape)

  • use an email program (like Outlook or Eudora) to send & receive email

  • chat with friends in real-time using an instant messaging program like AOL's free Instant Messenger or MSN's Messenger

  • share files with programs like Gnutella, or an FTP client

"The internet" is just network of computers that lets people communicate using webpages, emails, instant messages, etc.  Once you have a connection to the internet through your ISP, you can use any programs you want to do any of those activities.  What your ISP gives you is an ip address, which is your address on the internet.  All those activities you can do, they work by connecting you to someone else via the ip addresses of the computers that want to communicate.  But that happens mostly behind your back -- the programs that you use will show you a friendly interface, and they take care of all the communicating for you.

Anyway, that's how it works.

Getting Online

[ Update: as of sometime between late 2000 and early 2001, "the dot-com bubble burst."  For many months before this, you could get many free services on the internet, including internet access itself.  But since the internet bubble burst, most of these services are no longer available, or else they are not free anymore. ]

So, to get online, all you need is an ISP.  (The programs and services that let you browse web pages, use email, chat, etc, are all free -- we'll cover those later.)  There are different ways to connect to the internet:

  • Dial-up.  Use your phone line to dial-up to your ISP, using the modem in your computer.  This is the most common way for home users to connect to the internet.  AOL, MSN, and CompuServe are all dial-up ISPs.  This is so common, in fact, that there are now a few free dial-up ISPs. For the non-free ones, you can expect to pay from $5 to $20 per month.
  • DSL (Digital Subscriber Line).  Use your phone line to connect to an ISP that provides DSL internet access.  DSL works over phone lines, like dial-up access, but it doesn't dial.  It works at a different frequency than phones do, so you can talk on the phone and use DSL at the same time.  DSL is "always on", too, meaning that you connect when you start your computer, and then you just leave it connected all the time.  Oh yeah, and it's way faster than dial-up access.  So it ranges from $40 to $80 per month, and it's not yet available in all areas.
  • Cable.  Use the same cable that brings your cable TV to access your ISP.  Cable is also much faster than dial-up, and depending on different things, it can be faster or slower than DSL.  Again, it's not available in all areas, and when it is, it's a little less expensive than DSL.
  • Satellite.  This is cool.  But you can't upload data to a satellite (yet), so you have to use this in conjunction with a dial-up account.  Not cool.  Also very expensive.

DSL, cable, and satellite access are called broadband connections, because they are tons faster than dial-up access.  DSL and cable are getting really popular, and thus getting more affordable, because they work over wires that you already have coming into your house.  It looks like satellite access won't become very popular, except in niche markets, like people in the middle of nowhere who need a net connection.  Since you can't talk on the phone and use dial-up access at the same time, you need a second phone line if you use the net a lot.  That's why DSL and cable are so neat -- they don't have that problem.  And if you pay your ISP about $20/month, and pay about the same for a second phone line, that's $40/month.  Cable internet access in my area is $40/month.  See where I'm going with this?  Right.  And that's where the market's going too.  In a few years I think most people will have a broadband connection.

So, for most people, dial-up is the way to go.  Of course, you want to use one of the free ones.  [It's free because they have a little window that sits on your screen showing advertisements.  This isn't a big deal since most webpages have ads anyway.]  Altavista, among others, provided free internet access through 1stUp.com, until they went out of business in December 2000.  So now, the big free ones are Juno and Netzero that I know of.  Juno is totally free, and Netzero is free for 40 hours per month.  Next there's AT&T Worldnet, which offers a $4.95/month plan that uses an ad window like Juno and Netzero.  They also offer more expensive plans that don't have the ad window.  Finally there's the big guys like AOL, MSN, CompuServe, etc.  They're all about $15-$20 per month, but will often drop a few dollars per month if you sign up for a year or two.  [Here are three sites that provide more information about the many many ISPs in existence: thelist.internet.com, www.thedirectory.org, www.isps.com.]

Anyway, of course we like the free ones.  But for beginners, the bigger ones can be nicer at first.  Then again, it can be dangerous because the beginner gets a commercialized, biased view of what "the internet" really is.  The things to look for are a dial-up number that's local for you, and 56kbps access (the fastest available with dial-up).  33.6k isn't much slower than 56k, but most ISPs have 56k access nationally now.  All the ISPs that I just mentioned are pretty much "equal" in the important respects.  Unless you really need customer service, in which case, the big overpriced ones are better.  Of course, you could always write to me for support, and I'd be glad to help.

Using the net

Once you've got an ISP, you are free to do anything  you want on the net.  What your ISP will give you is a phone number to dial (make sure it's a local one for you, or you'll be charged per minute), and a username&password to "log on" to their service.  Some ISPs also give you customized software to log on or customized versions of web browsers (ahem AOL ahem).  Anyway, if you need to use that software to connect, then use it.  But once it's connected, here's what I recommend (and use):

  • use Mozilla to browse the web (it's free)
  • use AOL's Instant Messenger ("AIM") to chat with people (it's free)
  • use www.crosswinds.net for your email (and Eudora, if you want to save your email) (both free)

As far as instant messaging, I recommend AIM because it's simple, small, free, and so many people use it.  (It's free to non-AOL members, and all AOL members automatically have it.)

For email, well, click here for the thing about email.