Talk:Internet service provider

This all seems rather US-Centric. I think it could probably benefit from some more information on what an ISP is rather than just being a list of them -- Darac 11:37, 8 Jan 2004 (UTC)

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Internet service redirects me to this page, but service providers (AOL, etc) are different from services (web hosting, email, DNS, etc). I have no idea how to remove the redirect and put a more appropriate article in. --Elijah 22:51, 2004 Dec 7 (UTC)

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But what do they do, exactly? Why are they needed? Is there any reason you couldn't connect to the internet without an ISP? Also, I removed some of the history section because it seemed irrelevant to ISPs - the internet or WWW articles would have been better places for them. --Philip Hazelden 00:03, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

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"A Virtual ISP (vISP) re-sells to the general public Internet access purchased from a wholesale ISP."

Needs a section describing what a "wholesale ISP" is/does. This would also answer the above person's query. -- KLEBESTIFT 09:00, 16 June 2006 (not UTC)

I've rewritten the first paragraph of the vISP section. I tried to integrate a decent explanation of the wholesale ISP's role, let me know if it needs improvement. Thedangerouskitchen 17:28, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

Categorization discussion notice

There is a discussion going on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Categories_for_deletion/Log/2006_March_17#Internet_providers_standardization to settle the "in country" / "of country" nomenclature. The discussion is a CFD, so it should run for 7 days from the timestamp on this message. --Syrthiss 20:32, 17 March 2006 (UTC)

DMCA

The article says that "while the DMCA is generally seen as fair and balanced..." Who says the DMCA is fair/balanced? I don't. In fact, I'm not even sure most people do. This really needs to be backed up.--Frenchman113 20:09, 5 April 2006 (UTC)

The DMCA cannot be assessed in the lump. In my view, the provisions of the DMCA about ISP liability can be seen as balanced because on the one hand the DMCA does not oblige ISPs to actively monitor third party content, but on the other hand does not allow ISPs to ignore copyright infringement once they receive a notice. The question if the DMCA provisions about Digital Rights Management Systems and their circumvention are balanced is a totally different one. I agree that in respect to the latter the DMCA is often criticised as being unfair and unbalanced. I therefore clarified the section.Koala27 14:42, 15 May 2006 (UTC)

 74.67.225.235 21:51, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

Rewrite

Unless there are objections, I intend to rewrite large portions of this article, and go into far more detail. What I'll be trying not to do is to replicate too much content from other articles dealing with specific access methods like DSL or dial-up, or fill the article with inpenetrable jargon. However, if the Internet was an entirely new concept to me, and I read this article in its current state, I would have little idea as to the whats, hows, and whys of ISPs. Thedangerouskitchen 14:26, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

OK, I've rewritten a pretty decent portion of it. There's still a lot to go, though. I'd like the article to get more into the business and legal aspects, maybe include a network diagram indicating where ISPs are in relation to the customer, telcos, and the rest of the Internet, and get into traffic accounting (which ties in with business via billing). I'll do my best, but if someone wants to put in a big slab of their own expertise we'll have a much better article :) Thedangerouskitchen 14:07, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

Vandalism

Looks like this page has been wrecked somewhat with duplicate sections and comments in headlines. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 81.171.129.10 (talk) 16:43, 18 December 2006 (UTC).

Broadband vs. narrowband

I find that the term ISP can have two meanings. One use, as suggested by this article, is general, referring to any company providing Internet access, either broadband or dialup (i.e. narrowband.) The other use I see a lot in business articles and in companies' SEC filings is more specific. In this second connotation, ISP seems to define a specific business model that precludes ownership of the physical distribution infrastructure, such cable systems or phone wires. Examples of companies that fall under this second definition are Earthlink, AOL and M$, who generally do not own local access lines, as opposed to cable operators or phone companies who do.

In summary, even though logically, and as implied in this article, cable operators and phone companies could all be called Internet service providers, yet in business literature, I almost never see the term ISP applied to broadband service providers. If somebody who has more knowledge could comment on what seems to me dual uses of the term, it would certainly be welcome. I am sure I am not the only one wondering this. Thanks in advance. Staretz 22:15, 3 March 2007 (UTC)

My understanding is that if the company provides IP routing services such as peering or transit, then they qualify as an ISP, regardless of what they might do above (eg: web or email hosting) or below (ATM switching, DOCSIS cable networking, local loop for the PSTN, etc) the IP layer. This role as an ISP may be secondary to other roles such as those you mention, and less a part of the company's identity as perceived by the general public. However, if there's something definitive we can put in the article about what is or is not called an "ISP" in certain contexts, then I think it's worth including. Thedangerouskitchen 23:43, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

Internet Cafes

Are internet cafes virtual Internet Service Providers or just plain Internet Service Providers? I've seen it is included in the category internet service providers, but I'm not sure if that is right. --85.74.174.141 10:28, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

History of ISPs

Can someone add in the history of ISPs? When was the term originated? What was the first? How did they evolve from, say, Arpanet into the private sector? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Movieresearch (talk • contribs) 02:38, 17 August 2007 (UTC)

I'm also looking for information on the history of ISPs, specifically the software bundles most of them included with membership, to get around the chicken-egg problem of downloading internet software with no internet software before said software was part of operating systems.

List of ISPs

Can someone add a list of business and residential ISPs —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.69.179.196 (talk) 21:34, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Trust

Certainly there is a large amount of trust involved with one's ISP. Else a packet sniffer inside it could reap millions... Please add a section about this. Jidanni (talk) 11:14, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

What's the biggeest ISP?

Cab anyone write which company is the biggest ISP in the contry? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.232.61.198 (talk) 02:35, 26 February 2008 (UTC)

How do I establish my own ISP?

Please specify precise details as I am fed up with insufficient bandwidth speed —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.228.73.121 (talk) 23:55, 5 May 2008 (UTC)