Who Provides Internet to a user?

Internet is provided to a user by a ISP. Many ISPs, also called Internet Service providers provide various means and ways for their users to connect to the internet. Some of them use wires for connections, some don't require wires and some use a combination of both. Some of them are quick and some are not. Some can transmit huge amount of data at a time and some can not.

To be precise, what they basically do is connect the user to the common server of the ISP. For this purpose, ISPs use something we can describe as telecommunications media/ channels and with the help of these channels, the user can acquire any information he desires.

So, if you are looking for an internet connection for your home or office or your business place, it is very important that you carefully analyse these communication channels and decide the best channel that meets your needs.

Telecommunications channels are the part of a telecommunications network that connects the message source with the message receiver.

Data are transmitted and received over channels, which use a variety of telecommunications media. Telecommunications media are grouped into Guided Media and Unguided Media

And this brings us to our topic, what is the best option for you. And the best part is that you can decide for yourself once you are done with this article

.Let’s start with guided media.

Guided Media

Guided media basically means that you will be using cables and wires to transmit data. This system guides the data signals along a specific path.

We will discuss three of the most prominent  forms of guided media. These are Twisted Pair, Coaxial cable and Fiber optics.

Twisted-Pair Wire:

Twisted-pair is ordinary telephone wire, consisting of copper wire twisted into pairs as shown in the figure above.

It is the most widely used media for telecommunications and is used for both voice and data transmissions. It is used extensively in home and office telephone systems and many LANs and WANs. However, there are few disadvantages of the same.

Twisted Pair Wire is susceptible to various types of electrical interference (noise), which limits the practical distances that data can be transmitted without being garbled.

Signals must be “refreshed” every one to two miles through the use of repeaters, which are very expensive and does not offer security.

So, if you use Twisted pair cables, you will be using telephone wires along with a ADSL router to access the internet.

• Coaxial Cable:

This telecommunications media consists of copper or aluminum wire wrapped with spacers to insulate and protect it (as shown in the above diagram). Insulation minimizes interference and distortion of the signals the cable carries.

Coaxial cables can carry a large volume of data and allows high-speed data transmission used in high-service metropolitan areas for cable TV systems, and for short-distance connection of computers and peripheral devices. These cables can be bundled together into a much larger cable for ease of installation and can be placed underground and laid on the floors of lakes and oceans.

It is used extensively in office buildings and other work sites for local area networks. The only disadvantage of coaxial cable is that it is more expensive than twisted pair.

Fiber Optics:

This media consists of one or more hair-thin filaments of glass fiber wrapped in a protective jacket as shown in the diagram above.

Signals are converted to light form and fired by laser in bursts. Optical fibers can carry digital as well as analog signals and provides increased speed and greater carrying capacity than coaxial cable and twisted-pair lines. It is not affected by electromagnetic radiation and not susceptible to electronic noise and so it has much lower error rates than twisted-pair and coaxial cable.

Fiber optic cables are easy to install since they are smaller and more flexible and can be used undersea for transatlantic use. Speed of communications is 10,000 times faster than that of microwave and satellite systems.

Biggest disadvantages of using fiber optic cable are that installation can be difficult and costly to purchase.

Well that’s it on guided media. We will discuss some forms of unguided media in the next article. Stay tuned for that.

If you have any concerns, doubts or suggestions, please let me know. Just click on ask questions at the left panel of your screen.

Thank You.