ISP Types

What is an ISP?

End systems—devices that connected to the network such as laptops, mobile phones, TVs, and other IoT (Internet of Things)—access the internet through Internet Service Providers (ISPs) (Kurose & Ross, 2017, p. 32). ISP refers to companies or organizations that provide people with the internet. In Indonesia, companies that provide ISP are Telkom, Biznet, FirstMedia, and so on. Note that the access ISP doesn’t have to be a telco or a cable company (Kurose & Ross, 2017, p. 59); it can be a university or a company that provides internet access to their members.

Types of ISPs

There are several ways to connect to the internet, including:

1. Dial-Up Connections
   It uses telephone lines to make devices connected to the internet. This method requires a modem as an interface between devices and telephone lines to be connected to the internet. Dial-up connection uses either Serial Line Internet Protocol (SLIP) or Point to Point Protocol (PPP).

   

2. Integrated Service Digital Network (ISDN)
   This method also uses the telephone line, but uses digital signals rather than analog signals. There are two techniques used in ISDN, that is Basic Rate Interface (BRI) and PRI (Primary Rate Interface).

   

3. Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)
   It is a form of broadband connection as it provides connection over ordinary telephone lines. Similar to ISDN, but on DSL, telephone use can still be done without disturbing the internet connection.

   

4. Cable TV Internet Connection
   It is provided via cable TV lines. It uses a coaxial cable which is capable of transferring data at a much higher rate than regular telephone lines. The cable consists of two connections: one for internet services and the other for Cable TV signals.

   

5. Satellite Internet Connection
   Satellite Internet connection provides high speed internet connection. There are two types of satellite internet connections: one-way connections or two-way connections.

   • In a one-way connection, we can only download data. If you want to upload data, you need dialup access via a telephone line.
   • With a two-way connection, we can download and upload data via satellite.

   

6. Wireless Internet Connection
   Wireless Internet Connection makes use of radio frequency bands to connect to the internet and offers a very high speed. The wireless internet connection can be obtained by either WiFi or Bluetooth.

   

How ISPs interconnected to each other

The main purpose of interconnection it self is so, for example, when you try to send an email to your friend with different ISP from yours (e.g your friend lives in different country) they could receive them without any difficulty. That means every services in the network could be accessed by anyone, except maybe the hidden one, even if people uses different ISPs in the whole world. They connected through what we called a Ethernet switch that are also provided ISP through agreement on their side. This switch provider is what we call a Tier 1 network ISP.

Tier 1 network is an IP that could reach every network available freely for both trafic in and out without having to pay IP transit or peering. While some Tier 2 and all Tier 3 are networks that must pay to do the same. Tier 2 networks it self are ISPs that could use peering freely but have to pay for IP transit. Tier 3 networks are ISPs that using and paying Tier 2 ISPs service to reach the network while easier to be accesible by people which means that Telkom, Biznet, and FirstMedia are what we call Tier 3 network ISPs.

Reference

• Al Tadbir Co. (n.d.). [Illustration of a WISP connection]. https://tadbirtech.com/wisp/
• Internet connectivity. (n.d.). Tutorials Point. https://www.tutorialspoint.com/internet_technologies/internet_connectivity.htm
• Kurose, J. F., & Ross, K. W. (2017). Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach (7th ed.). Pearson Education.
• Bennett, Richard. How Interconnection Works. https://hightechforum.org/how-interconnection-works/