ISP Full Form

The full form of ISP in computer language is Internet Service Provider. It is an organization that provides access to the internet. The Internet Service Providers (ISP full form) are organized in various forms - commercial, community-owned, nonprofit, or privately owned. Internet provided by the ISPs includes internet access, internet transit, domain name registration, web hosting, Usenet service, etc. 

The internet service provider serves as the gateway or the access point that provides access to everything on the internet to the users. As of December 2019, there are around 358 Internet service providers (isp full form) in India. They are offering broadband and narrowband Internet services.

ISP Full Meaning and History

The modern-day Internet, which was originally The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET), was developed to act as a network between the government laboratories and the respective departments of the universities. At that time, the use of the internet was limited only to these universities and government labs and was banned by the National Science Foundation. By the late 1980s, the process of commercial use of internet access started. Also, the worldwide web (www) was launched on March 12, 1989. By the year 1991, few restrictions were removed. Few online providers such as CompuServe and America Online (AOL) started offering limited access to the internet in the form of email exchange. 

In Australia and the United States, in the year 1989, a few internet service providers (the full form of isp) were established who offered access to the internet to the public with a monthly fee. In Brookline, Massachusetts, United States, “The World” became the first commercial ISP. It served its first customer in November 1989. They offered dial-up connections using the public telephone network to provide last-mile connections. The economic barriers to entry for dial-up ISPs were low and as a result, many providers emerged.

However, the cable television companies and the telephone carriers already had a complete setup of wired connections ready with them and were able to provide internet connections to their customers at a higher speed than the dial-up connections. They were able to use and provide broadband technology using cable modems and digital subscriber lines (DSL). As a result, these companies started dominating the dial-up service providing ISPs and the highly competitive ISP market became effectively a monopoly or duopoly.

Classification of ISPs

The classification of Internet Service Providers (full form of isp in computer language) are as follows:

Access providers

The access provider ISPs provide access to the internet. They employ a range of technologies to connect to their users. The technologies have ranged from computer modems with acoustic couplers to telephone lines and cable (CATV), Wi-Fi, and fibre optics. Individual users (generally at home) and small businesses may opt for asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL), cable modem, or Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN). The broadband network architecture that provides all or part of the local loop used for last-mile telecommunications using the optical fibre is called “Fibre to the x” or “Fibre to the loop”. 

Customers with medium to large businesses and with high demand may opt for high-speed DSLs such as Ethernet, metropolitan Ethernet, gigabit Ethernet, ISDN Primary Rate Interface, Frame Relay, synchronous optical networking (SONET), and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM).

Mailbox Providers

The mailbox providers are the ISPs who provide services to host electronic mail domains with storage for mailboxes. They allow email servers to send, receive, accept, and store email for end users. A few mailbox providers are Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, Outlook.com, AOL Mail, and Po box.

Hosting ISPs

The hosting Internet Service Providers (full meaning of isp) provides email, web hosting, online storage services, virtual server, cloud services, or physical server operation. 

Transit ISPs

Transit is a form of interconnection in which an internet service provider (isp full form) buys the bandwidth connectivity service that offers access to publicly reachable destinations on the internet, known as “full transit”. Internet transit is also called internet protocol (IP) transit. The transit providers are called “upstream providers”. 

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Virtual ISPs

A virtual internet service provider (VISP) operates by purchasing services from other internet service providers. The customers of VISPs can access the internet using the backbone of the primary internet service provider (the full form of isp). 

Free ISPs

Free ISPs are the internet service providers who provide the service free of cost. 

Wireless ISP

The wireless internet service providers provide the service using wireless devices. This technology is being used mostly in remote places where it is difficult to set up wired networks. This connectivity also serves the purpose of wifi networks. 

ISP Peering

ISP peering is a technology where multiple internet service providers get connected with each other. This helps in sharing the internet connection in the areas where setting up a single internet service provider is difficult. The internet service providers that do not require an upstream transit and only have end customers are called TIER I ISPs.