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Types of Internet Access Dial Up Some of you have a "dial up" connection. This means that to get on the internet, you need to navigate to the "sign in" icon, or place your mouse on it and left click on it with your computer plugged into the phone line. Then, you'll hear the sounds of the modem calling to your internet provider for a while until it connects & you see your "homepage" screen & you're on! This is the lease expensive way to get internet access. In exchange for the money saved, you give up speed. You may also find that you can not look at some things like video clips without waiting a very long time, and occasionally, the connection will cease and you'll have to "log on" again. DSL& Broadband These are "always on" connections. You simply select it and you're in. I had a DSL connection for a while when we moved, then we went back to Broadband. The reason was that we found broadband to be faster. I'm not sure if this is always the case. It may depend on your area.
T-1 Line This is considered the fastest connection and is usually only used in large offices and companies. |
How to use the Internet
OK, so you're on the internet and want to go to a webpage or website that you've heard about. At the top of your screen should be an
"address bar". There could also be a "search" bar. Search bars often
appear when you "download" something such as free smiley faces for your
email. They are also often included in your "homepage" (the page you start at) In the "address bar", type the internet address you want to go to such as "www.coronaconnection.com", then click on "go" or "enter". That will take you to it, unless there is a current problem with the website or your connection. What if you want to find out information about something and don't know a specific web address? Then you can use a "search engine". A Search Engine is a website that exists for you to look up other websites based on the information you're looking for. There are more search engines on the internet than hairs on your head. Each one may give you different results when you search on them. For that reason, you may use more than one if you aren't finding what you want. Some of the most popular are: (this is cute. Instead of "search", it says "fetch" and searches other popular search engines at the same time to give the results.)
The page you start at when you log onto the internet often has a built in search engine as well. Possibly it is one of the ones listed above
When you type something into the "search bar", or rectangle, your results may be divided into, first the "Sponsored Links", then the other ones. The "Sponsored Links" are those companies who have paid money to the search engine either directly or through a middle-man to have their sites appear first. That doesn't mean they are the most relevant to what you're looking for. The rest of the results are what the particular search engine thinks is relevant to what you're searching for, depending on the formula that particular search engine uses when evaluating sites. They list them in order of perceived relevance.
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Does It Matter what Company you use? Is it really the "same internet"?
The internet is the internet. It doesn't matter who you use to connect to it, you will still be at the same internet when you log on. However, I know that if you use AOL, there are places you can't see or that don't work properly. I know that because I worked for an office that used AOL for a while, and I couldn't access certain title company and other databases when connected through AOL. When they dropped AOL it worked like a charm and I had access to the complete internet again.
There are differences in the email service. As a self taught internet user, I quickly found that when I tried to email a picture or a link to a website to someone who use AOL, or even make my works appear in a different color, or italicize, or underline, or make my words bold, or all 3, they were unable to access it and sounded really confused when I called them saying they were seeing lots of unintelligible stuff.
For everyone else, I would type an email like I'm typing this and, maybe for an example, I'd include a picture:
and/or tell them to go to www.CoronasBestHomes.com .or another website
Everyone would receive the email as
written (as it looks above)- except those people who use AOL. They would
seem to think I was crazy for sending them an email
Over the years, I've learned how to use some "HTML" to get around this AOL problem. HTML is the technical website builder language. That is the only way to send a website link to AOL people & pictures have to be in the form of an "attachment" in specified formats. For example. To send the above website link to an AOL client, instead of just typing the address, I would have to use HTML that looks like this: <a href=http://www.CoronasBestHomes.com>Click here</a> The AOL client would see "Click Here" and be able to, then, click on it and go to the website.
AOL users miss out on a lot of interesting email and websites. I imagine it could scare new internet users into staying with AOL because what they receive from friends who don't use AOL looks so strange and they don't know why. Everyone else learns to "dumb it down" or use only "plain text" when emailing to AOL users. Some even go so far as to call it Almost On Line.
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that
they couldn't read because it made no sense and instead of what I had
written, had a lot of gobblety-gook. This is very frustrating and I
would love to hear why anyone would pay more for this service besides the
fact that AOL blankets the world with their CDs.