Free
Dialup UK Article - Introducing Dialup Connection
Let us first define Internet. There are several ways of defining
Internet. Internet can be defined as worldwide network of
large and small networks around the globe. Technically, Internet
is the largest network in the world. Internet bears a huge
amount of data and daily witness incredible amount of data
transfer across the world. To access the internet you need
to have connection to internet. There are several ways to
access internet. The oldest and most used way is a dial up
connection.
In technical terms, dial up connection is a procedure in
which a terminal is connected via a modem and a public telephone
network to Internet. Here, for most people the terminal connected
is their computer and add-on devices that they have connected
to their computer. The Add-ons consists of fax machine, printer
etc. Dial up connection is made through your landline phone
connection. In some ways, it does behave like a standard telephone
connection. In a dial up connection, parties at the two ends
are computer devices rather than people. The main difference
is that in a telephone connection, people directly converse
at both ends. However, in dialup internet connection the conversation
or the data transfer is done through a modem at both ends.
Furthermore, as dial up access is a form of internet access
in which the end user uses modems, it transfers data in analog
form as phone lines. As most people have phone line in their
houses or offices, dial up connection is easy to set up. This
makes a dial up connection a primary mode of access to internet
for most people around the world.
Dial up Internet connections are provided by ISPS or Internet
Service Providers. ISPS provide an access number, a username
and a password. A user has to dial the access number provided
by the ISP. The modem dials it to get on to the network. The
user must submit the username and password to authenticate
the entry. When an internet connection is attempted, the modem
dials through phone line to the internet service provider's
central computer. It uses the PPP and TCP/IP internet protocols
to establish a modem-to-modem link, which is then directed
to the world of internet.
The main advantage of dial up connection is that it could
be connected through telephone lines. However, like most of
the modern technologies dial up connection has its limitations
with the advantage. The most Striking limitation is that the
dial up connection system uses normal telephone lines! The
speed of dial up connection has increased in last two decades.
Now days, the maximum data rate with normal dial up access
is limited to 56 Kbps. The dial up connection is slower than
some other non-dialup forms. It is also not dedicated and
you must dial the service provider every time you want to
connect to the Internet.
Still despite of these limitations, the dial up connection
is the most popular option to access the world of internet
due to its cheapness and simplicity of the installation compared
to the other internet access options.
|
