How the Internet connection works

You need to connect to the Internet somehow to receive and transmit data. How you connect can depend on where you live ( you may have limited choices ) or your budget. A majority of home-based Internet users connect via a dial-up connection, using a modem that's inside ( or in some cases outside ) your computer. A modem is a device that converts analog signals from the PTN ( public telephone network ) into digital signals inside your machine. Hence what modem actually stands for ( MODulation and DEModulation ). Dial-up modem users usually pay an average of about 15-$20 dollars per month for usage via and Internet Service Provider ( ISP ) that provides them the means of connecting, viewing web-based media and sending and receiving e-mail. xDSL ( Digital Subscriber Line ) also uses the existing copper wire of your phone lines to connect you, but provides much greater bandwidth using special methods such as a distance limited digital line.

As you see from this diagram, the user connects to the local phone switch, then over the PTN to the local carrier or another CLEC ( Competitive Local Exchange Carrier ) then to the ISP's equipment, hitting authentication, then logging in to the network. Of course if your using cable or wireless access to get on the Internet, your diagram would look different from that of the one above. If you were using wireless, your bandwidth would come from a local antenna or satellite dish, connecting you to your Internet Service Provider. If you were using cable, you would connect via your local cable company ( and then probably an ISP they outsource too ).

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