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04/01/1997
Getting Started with an Internet Service Provider
By Pat Garner, Garner & Associates
Now that the Internet is being embraced by the business community, both great and small alike, we in the executive suite industry must begin to utilize this great tool for what it is, a medium unparalleled in recorded history that provides information, resources, communications and marketing opportunities never before seen.
For an executive suite owner, there are some wonderful opportunities beginning to develop for generating service revenues. In order to be a part of these opportunities, we need to get "connected" to the Internet. As most of you already know, the Internet is a series of computers owned by various companies, individuals, government, universities, etc. that are connected by communication lines of one form or another. To be "directly" connected to the Internet requires meeting certain criteria, having certain types of equipment, being licensed by InterNIC, and is quite expensive. Most of us connect via a telephone line to a company that is "directly" connected and provides "access" (or an "on ramp") to the Internet. This type of company is known as an ISP or Internet Service Provider. You may locate the ISP nearest you and evaluate the level of service being offered by visiting www.thelist.com on the World Wide Web and there you can search the database of Internet Service Providers. There are many more articles out now about the criteria for choosing an ISP and the following are given as a partial list to use:
At a minimum, they should offer local dial-up service (you wouldn't want to be paying a long distance bill, unless absolutely necessary); they should support modem speeds of at least 28.8 kbps, and really should provide for 33.6 kbps. You will eventually want them to offer high speed dial up, such as ISDN. They must have a support desk that really works. They should use a popular browser such as Netscape, although Internet Explorer is beginning to come on strong. They must be a full service provider, in other words, giving you access to the World Wide Web (WWW), email, news groups, and file transfer (ftp). They should offer space on their server for your web pages, included in the price, and web hosting service (they arrange for you to have a domain name and storage space for those web pages) for a reasonable fee. Most providers charge around $50 a month for that web hosting service and include 20 MB of storage space on their server. This is fairly standard pricing. The price increases if and when your storage requirement exceeds the allotted space. They can also charge a little extra (few dollars) if you experience high traffic (lot's of visits to your web site.) Like many new technologies, the pricing is not standard and must be looked at closely to see just what is included. You would not want to pay based on use, nor on the number of emails you send or receive or anything like that. It should be a flat monthly fee for so many hours of connecting time, with a surcharge of so much per hour thereafter. They should offer you standard pricing plans that will meet your specific needs at very reasonable prices. The larger ISP's offer unlimited usage for $29.95 a month.
As a part of the startup package, the ISP will provide you with the software for everything you need for your dial up account. (Dial up account means a POTS (plain old telephone service) line. There are several types of dial up accounts available, including direct connect T-3's, but initially you will, most likely, be using a regular phone line.) The ISP will give you software to load on your computer that will include a browser, communication software that will work with almost any modem, a mail reader for you to send and receive email, as well as an FTP program. Most ISP's also provide software for you to use newsgroups and visit chat rooms. You will need to have a computer, modem and a phone line.
In tracking down the list of ISP's from the Internet, these are a few of the addresses I used:
http://www.thedirectory.org/
http://www.thelist.iworld.com/
Every ISP is individual in the services that they offer, the type of software they use, the type of servers (computers) they use to connect to the Internet. As a result, the type of support you can have can very widely. Since putting up web pages is becoming more and more simply a matter of knowing how to use certain types of software, it is important to choose an ISP that will support the new web page software, such as Front Page. The server of the ISP must support the software you are proposing to use (often referred to as "extensions"), or you will not be able to post web pages at your site. Most every server will permit you to use HTML, but the new web page authoring tools offer so much more conveniences and ease of use in comparison, that you should consider the software available at the ISP before signing up.
"What's In A Name"
Once you have an account with an ISP, you will be asked for a name for the account. Everyone who is connected to the Internet, either directly or indirectly, has an address, just like at home. There are several distinctions made in the address and these are very important. The e-mail address has three components, the first being a user's name (usually taking the first letter of the first name added to the last name without a space, such as Pat Garner, pgarner, then separated by an @ sign, followed by a domain name, then a period (or "dot") and an extension that denotes the type of domain. There are several naming conventions for the extensions, such as gov = government, org = organization, com = commercial, edu = education. These extensions help identify the type of organizations. An e-mail address can also show a country code. The full address then reads pgarner@esuite.com. (When an e-mail address is written, it should be italicized.) And more individuals and companies are using their e-mail address on their correspondence and business cards.
The important next step is in choosing a "domain" name. This means that when you give an address instead of it being yourname@ISP'sname.com, (email address and web addresses are always italicized) it will then become personalized. The importance of having your own domain name cannot be overemphasized, because when you select a really appropriate domain name - one that is generic and suitable for use by your clients, then everyone not only in your suite, but outside clients as well, that you provide web pages for and give an email address to, can use that address with a high degree of satisfaction. Picture the difference between your client having an address such as wjones@citycenter.com, versus wjones@myoffice.com.
As one Internet writer points out, "having your own virtual domain can be worth its weight in gold." Not only is it unique and belonging to you, you can also "take it with you." For example, should you decide to change service providers, you take your name with you. That means all your stationary stays the same, all your listings with all the browsers does not have to be changes, etc. etc. It's a very important item, so take your time, there are places and services on the web who will search out domain names to find one that is available; however, most ISP's provide you access to that information free. In addition to selecting a domain name, you will need to set up a "domain" account and register the name with the InterNIC - your ISP will help you do that and send you the forms (they will usually email them to you) that you need to fill out. Be sure and keep hard copies of all your correspondence on this subject. The cost from InterNIC to register has gone up to $100. There will also be some type of charge from the ISP added on to that, so their bill back to you may be $120 or $150. Should not be much more, if at all over that. Once you have the domain name registered, you can set up "aliases" or mailboxes for as many people as you would like. Usually the cost is about $5 per mailbox. Again, each person who you give a mailbox to will use their name, plus your domain.com as their address and your will receive their mail in your account under their name. The ISP will help walk you through it. You can ask your Internet Service Provider about Virtual Domains or check out http://rs.internic.net for more complete details.
Pat Garner is a former executive suite owner and president of both Garner & Associates, consultants to the Executive Suite Industry, and InterData Access Corporation, web site developer and sponsor of www.esuite.com for the executive suite industry. Both companies are Members of ESN. She can be reached via email at pgarner@indac.com, or phone at 800-889-3692. |
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