[Article recently published in Borders Business Review]

The Internet and You

by

Jacqueline Neill
CFR Systems

I once heard a comment someone made about the Internet: "it's just another one of those 'fads', it will soon be forgotten about". I thought to myself that this was a very misguided statement and from my short experience of the Internet at that time, I was of the opinion that it was here to stay whether we liked it or not. I, along with thousands of other people, think the Internet is a fantastic mechanism for communicating information, and it is also great fun!

If you are interested in finding out more about the Internet and getting connected, one of the first steps you have to take is to find an Internet Service Provider through which you can connect to the Internet. There are literally hundreds of ISPs to choose from, so how do you find an ISP to match your budget and requirements?

There are, of course, a number of factors to be considered before you hand over your credit card details to any of them. ISP's can be split into two main categories: Online Service Providers and Internet Service Providers. CompuServe, American Online (AOL) and Microsoft Network (MSN) are two of the largest Online Service Providers. The main advantages of connecting via an Online Service Provider is the friendly interface and the added services that are only provided to members. Standard Internet Service Providers simply connect you to the Internet. The advantages of going for a standard provider are that it is usually cheaper, faster, more flexible, and you have a choice of methods for accessing the Web.

Other considerations to be taken into account when selecting an ISP are:

• Charging structure. With most standard Internet Service Providers you pay an initial set-up fee then a flat monthly charge of about £10, whereas the Online Service Providers often charge on a "pay as you use" basis.
• Local Calls. Most providers give you a local telephone number with which you connect to the Internet which can help to keep you telephone bills to a minimum;
• Free web space. Providers usually provide you with some free web space in order for you to create your own homepage - you might not feel that you need your own homepage, but it is fun to create one with the free space you are provided with. This usually falls into the range between 5Mb and 10Mb which is perfectly adequate for a personal homepage, and a basic commercial site;
• Reliability and speed of connection to the IPS's server. This can greatly reduce your telephone bills and help you keep your patience if the connection if fairly fast and reliable. With a slow connection you are going to spend longer on-line waiting to find information and your email will travel much slower; and
• Technical support. It is worth finding out what level of support is available and how easy it is to get your call answered by a telephone support line.

Once you finally make the decision and get connected it is then well worth finding out what services are available to you. Most people think of the Internet as the vast collection of web sites that you can surf around, but this is only one part of the Internet which is known as the World Wide Web, or Web. Other facilities include:

• Email - electronic mail, or email, enables you to send electronic messages to someone else on the Internet whether they are in the same office as you or on the other side of the world.
• Usenet/Newsgroups - also known as bulletin boards. There are thousands of newsgroups on almost any subject you can imagine. You subscribe to a newsgroup you are interested in and you will receive all the articles posted by other subscribers who are also interested in this particular subject, and you can also contribute your own suggestions and ideas.
• Mailing Lists - similar to newsgroups, people interested in a topic can send messages to all the people who subscribe to a mailing list. Groups are usually smaller and better behaved than those in newsgroups.
• Chat - communicate on-line with other people on the Internet. Rather than sending email where it can take hours or even days to get a response, Chat means that you can get an almost immediate response in a similar way to having a telephone conversation with someone, but the conversation is written on your computer screen.
• File Transfer Protocol, known as FTP, allows you to transfer files from a remote computer onto your computer's hard disk.

If you are looking for advice and assistance in getting connected to the Internet, or would like to find out more about how to use the services available to you once you are connected, CFR Systems can help.

CFR Systems are based in the Scottish Borders and offer advice on selecting hardware and software to suit your business needs; group and individual training courses on a vast range of software products including the Internet and email; specialist software programmes developed to meet your individual requirements; Year 2000 testing; and Internet advice and web site design.

Why not phone Jacqueline on 01361 884602, or send an email to cfr.systems@btinternet.com, to find out more about how CFR Systems can help you and your business.

Email: cfr.systems@btinternet.com

Copyright CFR Systems. All rights reserved.
Last revised: March 26, 1999