Connecting to the Internet

The first requirement will be to locate an Internet Service Provider (ISP) in your area. This is a company (such as Telstra Bigpond) through which you can access the Internet. Prices and features will vary, so calling around, shopping for the best price is recommended.

Typically, your local ISP will offer you a monthly package, which includes email and web access, download/upload capabilities, and newsgroups. If these terms don't seem to be familiar to you, do not be concerned. If your ISP doesn't offer all of these, then continue shopping!

Once you have found an ISP and signed their service agreement, it is a fairly straight forward process to connect to the internet. You will need a modem and a phone line to do this. The ISP will generally take you through the steps to connect to the Internet.

You will need the following software installed on your computer to access email and websites:

• a world wide web browser (Netscape or Internet Explorer. Internet Explorer comes with most computers); and
• an email program unless you have a web-based email account, such as Hotmail
  (Eudora is the easiest, but most computers these days come with Microsoft Outlook Express);

Other software you can get that will probably help you use the Internet are:

• a program that zips and unzips files (Winzip is a good one); and
• a program that allows you to do text based chat (Mirc is good for this)

[Click on the underlined words to visit that site. The link will open in a new browser window.]
You can download other software once you get connected to the Internet

So how does all this work?
Well it's simple really. Your computer will dial a local number, which is provided by your ISP. Once you have logged into your ISP, you are connected to the Internet.

Your computer......connects to ......ISP......... connects to......WWW

Now that you are connected to the Internet, you can do the following:

• EMAIL is the ability to write a message to someone, using a mail program, and use the Internet as a means of delivering that message.
  Email attatched to your ISP is not a free service. The cost of your email is covered in your service charge to your provider. When you send a message to someone it leaves your computer and travels first to your Service Provider, from there your email may travel through several other computers until it reaches its final destination. The time it takes to transit from one host to another varies depending upon how busy the network is at the time you sent it.
  
  There are free web-based email services, hotmail, and yahoo are just a few. [Click on the underlined words to go to that site. The link will open in a new browser window, close it to return to this tutorial.]
  
  For more detailed information about Email, jump to Subject 3: First Steps with Email.

• Access the World Wide Web (web pages). On the Web you will find information relating to almost any conceivable topic.

• Upload/Download Files: Basically it refers to moving a file, either from another computer to your computer or from your client computer to some other computer.