subject: Four Different Ways To Access The Internet [print this page] For many, the internet is something that is still only relatively new, dating back to around the late 1990s.
However, whilst there is no doubt that the late 1990s was when the internet's popularity and usage exploded, making the World Wide Web a resource that was to become imperative to such a vast array of different business and people's everyday lives, the internet itself can actually be dated back to the 1960s, with regular use by educational and governmental bodies starting in the 1980s.
Developing almost continuously over the last few decades, the internet has become a resource that can be accessed from all around the world and the following information shows how you can log on to the internet in four different ways.
1. Dial-up - the connection that first allowed the public to log on to the internet, a dial-up connection was once the connection type of choice for millions, until technology developed and the speed at which a dial-up connection allowed you to access the internet was deemed to be no longer suitable for what was possible online.
2. Broadband - the option of choice for most using the internet in 2010, broadband internet provides fast access to the World Wide Web, allowing you to view it and take advantage of it in all its glory.
3. Mobile broadband - something that is becoming increasingly popular, more and more mobile phone providers are selling mobile broadband, which gives the user broadband internet speeds wherever they are located.
Not needing to be sat at a computer with a hardwired broadband line, mobile broadband means you can be sat in the centre of London's Hyde Park or at the top of Scotland's Edinburgh Castle and still receive a fast and responsive broadband connection.
3. Mobile 3G - the method of accessing the internet on a mobile phone that helped to revolutionize the way in which the internet is used, 3G internet is a slow connection but as it's available on most mobile phones as standards, means that people can access the internet wherever they are in the world.
However, due to the fact it is a slow connection, it's not often possible to view websites in full and because of this, many online companies have developed less text and graphic intensive versions of their websites for use when people connect via a 3G connection.
4. Wi-fi - a wireless internet connection that allows people to access a hardwired internet connection without the use of wires, wi-fi works by the modem being connected to a router which sends out a signal, allowing for devices with wireless capability in the surrounding area to use its internet connection.
Used largely for laptops in the home, where the internet is connected primarily to a single desktop PC but is then passed around the house via a router, it has become increasingly popular over the last five years for various public places to have a wi-fi connection, meaning that you can access it on your wireless laptop if you're nearby or even on your mobile phone, assuming that it has the ability to, which is something more and more modern phones posses.
