Who owns the Internet?

No one owns the Internet, and only one organization controls the Internet in its entirety. More of a concept than an actual tangible entity, the Internet relies on a physical infrastructure that connects networks to other networks. There are many organizations, corporations, governments, schools, private citizens and service providers that all own pieces of the infrastructure, but there is no one body that owns it all. There are, however, organizations that oversee and standardize what happens on the Internet and assign IP addresses and domain names, such as the National Science Foundation, the Internet Engineering Task Force, ICANN, InterNIC and the Internet Architecture Board.  

There are many organizations, corporations, governments, schools, private citizens and service providers that all own pieces of the infrastructure, but there is no one body that owns it all.No one actually owns the Internet, and no single person or organization controls the Internet in its entirety.

The Internet is more of a concept than an actual tangible entity, and it relies on a physical infrastructure that connects networks to other networks

Who governs/regulates/controls the Internet?

The Internet grew as a collaborative network of researchers keen to share their discoveries in a simple, accessible way.

Because of this, there was no real need to regulate or control the Internet; the information was already free and was of interest only to other researchers, so it didn't need protection. But as the Internet has grown, it has become a more commercial, public entity and some who use it now wish it to be governed and policed to prevent certain types of abuse. However, so far there are Three volunteer groups had been formed to help coordinate and guide the technical parts of the Internet:

Internet Activities Board (IAB) - The technical body that oversees the development of the Internet suite of protocols. It has two task forces, the IETF and IRTF, which are charged with investigating a particular area.

Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) - Develops and maintains the Internet’s communication protocols. Addresses problems and coordinates new services.Appoints working groups to define standards, coordinate services between providers and performs the real work.

Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) - Look into long-term research problems that could be critical in five or ten years.

In addition to the three volunteer groups referenced above, the following projects and organizations have been formed to assist with the development of the Internet.

Internet Network Information Center (InterNic) - project sponsored by the NSF is conducted by AT&T and Network Solutions. The purpose is to provide the various registry services needed for the Internet to operate effectively.

World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) - managed by the laboratory for Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is a joint initiative between MIT, CERN, and INRIA to develop standards for the evolution of the Web.

Currently there are four companies that have a stronghold on the Internet. Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook are the big dogs on the block and would appear to invulnerable at first glance but are they? Of these four which do you think has the most secure position?

Google is huge. They have probably 85% of the search traffic. It’s become so big the noun has become a verb. “Go google it” is a common phrase. They have definitely expanded with maps, google earth, Google Chrome, youtube, the Android phone and of course the Chromebook. But it all really hinges on being the default search engine. They have a huge amount of power. When one company has so much control of the information flow around the world it can become a big problem. “With great power comes great responsibility”. True as that is great power also brings arrogance. History shows that whenever someone has achieved such a stronghold they eventually begin abusing that power and the people respond. Such could easily be the case with Google. One big possible thorn for Google is Facebook. People are more and more relying on Facebook for their daily computing needs. If Facebook continues to expand maybe people will eventually turn to Facebook for their internet information.

Facebook is another noun that has become a verb. “Facebook me” is a very common phrase as well. It’s huge and getting bigger everyday. Who knows Facebook may just become a memory in a decade. AOL was really a Facebook predecessor. In the 90’s a lot of people utilized AOL much like Facebook today. They had message boards, online communities email and such. When you consider how young Facebook is and really even the Internet boom, it’s not hard to imagine the constantly growing technology will bring about a lack of need for sites such as Facebook.

Apple is probably the weakest in this group. Although they have a huge presence with the likes of iTunes, iPads and iPhones their strength is really tied to their products. Unfortunately for everyone they lost the visionary for the company in Steve Jobs. They have to continue to be the main player in and handheld computing to remain on top.

Amazon surprisingly probably is the most secure of this group. They are not product dependent. Amazon has a huge logistical infrastructure in place that would be really tough to duplicate and even were someone to do so they would have to build up the customer base. Consider Blockbuster versus Netflix. Blockbuster was huge in the rental of videos. Netflix built a big business by mail of rentals. Blockbuster attempted to replace Netflix in the DVD by mail arena and failed. They already had a customer base and even the ability to go to the store and exchange your movie. Once a company has a secure foothold it is very hard to replace them. Amazon has a very secure future.

Measuring Bandwidth

Bandwidth in a network is the amount of data, that can be passed in a specified period of time over an interface.

In computer networking and computer science, the words bandwidth, network bandwidth, data bandwidth, or digital bandwidth are terms used to refer to various bit-rate measures, representing the available or consumed data communication resources expressed in bits per second or multiples of it (bit/s, kbit/s, Mbit/s, Gbit/s, etc.).

Mind your bits and bytes

 A bit is a single binary digit (a zero or a one). A kilobit (kb) is about thousand bits (actually 1024, or 2 to the power 10), and a megabit (Mb) is around a million bits (1024 x 1024, or 2 to the power 20). You're probably more familiar with bytes, which are a group of eight bits, and can represent a single character or digit. Hard disk drives, for example, are measured in megabytes (MB - very small), gigabytes (GB) or terabytes (TB - very large) - note that in abbreviations, bytes are capital B's and bits are lower case!

This table shows the maximum bandwidth (the physical layer net bitrate) of common Internet access technologies.

56 kbit/s	Modem / Dialup
1.5 Mbit/s	ADSL Lite
1.544 Mbit/s	T1/DS1
2.048 Mbit/s	E1 / E-carrier
10 Mbit/s	Ethernet
11 Mbit/s	Wireless 802.11b
44.736 Mbit/s	T3/DS3
54 Mbit/s	Wireless 802.11g
100 Mbit/s	Fast Ethernet
155 Mbit/s	OC3
600 Mbit/s	Wireless 802.11n
622 Mbit/s	OC12
1 Gbit/s	Gigabit Ethernet
2.5 Gbit/s	OC48
9.6 Gbit/s	OC192
10 Gbit/s	10 Gigabit Ethernet
100 Gbit/s	100 Gigabit Ethernet

Theory: Short Summary

The Maximum bandwidth can be calculated as follows:

 Bandwidth ≤ RWIN/RTT

where RWIN is the TCP Receive Window and RTT is the round-trip time for the path. The Max TCP Window size in the absence of TCP window scale option is 65,535 bytes.Example: Max Bandwidth = 65535 bytes / 0.220 s = 297886.36 bytes/s * 8 = 2.383 Mbit/s.

We multiply the Byte per second times 8 to get the Bit per second rate. Over a single TCP connection between those endpoints, the tested Bandwidth will be restricted to 2.376 Mbit/s even if the contracted Bandwidth is greater

Choosing A Broadband Provider

To choose the best broadband Internet service provider (ISP), you may begin by comparing companies based on the types of services they offer and whether their services are available in your area. You may also compare ISPs based on the reliability of the Internet connection they provide. Likewise, the speed of the Internet connection may also play an important role in your decision making. Once you’ve narrowed your list of ISP possibilities, you may compare those that remain based on their available pricing structures.

You’ll likely need to consider availability as you attempt to choose the best broadband ISP. While broadband Internet service is widely used, some types of broadband service may not be available in your area, or the provider you want may not serve your area. For example, if you want cable broadband Internet service, you may only have one service provider available to you, as one cable provider often dominates a particular area. If you want digital subscriber line (DSL service), on the other hand, this uses existing telephone wires and may not be available in some areas. Before you can compare providers and select the one that best suits your needs, you’ll usually need to start by learning which services and providers are available in your area.

The Factors in Choosing a Broadband Provider is:

How much speed do you need?

In most cases, the faster the internet connection, the more you are going to pay for it. You only want to pay for the level of speed and performance that you will regularly use.

A slower connection (~ 56 Kbps) might be all you need for email and light browsing. You will need a fast connection (greater than ~ 1 Mbps) if you do lots of browsing, download a lot of music, watch streaming videos, or if there are multiple people in your household using the internet at the same time. The fastest connections (greater than ~ 3 Mbps) benefit serious gamers and users who are regularly sending and receiving large files.

Cost is also a factor in selecting the best broadband ISP. You may find a wide range of service prices and feel tempted to choose the cheapest one. Since choosing the cheapest service sometimes leads to a poor connection, you may do well to compare companies based on reliability, service quality, and speed first. Once you have narrowed the list down to a couple that seem to be the best, you may then choose the ISP that offers the lowest price. Additionally, it’s usually important to consider the regular price a broadband ISP offers, as this is what you may have to pay once the introductory period ends.

Speed is also an important consideration when you’re comparing broadband ISPs. Generally, cable broadband providers offer faster speeds. This can be influenced by other factors, however, such as the number of people using the Internet connection at any given time. Instead of comparing ISPs based on their projected maximum speeds, you may do well to learn what their average connection speeds are and compare them based on this information.

Reliability is also important when you want to choose the best broadband ISP. In general, broadband Internet service is more reliable than dial-up service, but some ISPs provide better service than others. If a company has a reputation for frequent service interruptions and poor Internet connections, you’ll likely want to choose a different provider. Depending on the service you choose, the number of local users may matter as well. With cable broadband service, for example, more local users sometimes means a lower-quality connection.

Connecting Using ISP and How To Choose An ISP

An ISP, or Internet Service Provider, is a company that provides you with a point of access to the Internet. When you connect to your ISP, your computer (or your own network) becomes an extension of the Internet itself whilst you remain connected.

Dial-up:

If you only want to use the internet every now and then, do not mind waiting a few minutes to connect and disconnect each time you want to use the internet, and do not need wireless access, then dial-up may be right for you. Dial-up can also be a good option for those who are traveling and want to occasionally check email or browse some web pages. Keep in mind that you need access to a land-line telephone service in order to use Dial-up.

Broadband:

Taking the time to find yourself a good broadband Internet service is key if you are looking for something reliable at a reasonable rate. A cheap broadband Internet service however, may not always mean a good one. Narrow down your search on a number of well-established, reputable companies that provide broadband Internet services.

Once you've got signed up for your broadband Internet service, you will find the world at your fingertips, literally. This is because your broadband Internet connection will give you almost limitless access to a wealth of information and cheap online products and services.

What you will need to understand is that the speed of your broadband Internet service will depend greatly on the type of package your sign up for. Certain packages may appear cheaper but on hindsight, they might limit your Internet access (in terms of connection speed). An even less expensive alternative to a broadband Internet service is a dial-up service, which will also give you access to the Internet.

With the large variety of Internet service providers, it may sometimes be difficult to make a decision on the perfect one for you. As mentioned above, you should narrow down your choices to include only those reputable companies. Take special note of these, as sometimes they will also offer special promotional packages that will give you a good deal on your Internet service.

Having a clear idea of what you require will make it inherently easier to find your ideal broadband Internet service. If you're required to spend a great deal of online time, you may find that having a high speed connection is a priority. Remember that this requirement will also require a greater budget commitment than an Internet connection with a slower speed.

Once you've chosen your choice broadband Internet service, you will most likely be required to sign a contract with them. Make sure you read these with care as you may have to make a long or short-term commitment to the service provider you sign up with because if you decide mid-contract to switch providers, you may end up paying a hefty penalty fee.

Mobile:

You can also connect to the Internet via certain mobile phones or satellite phones. Some mobile phones let you browse web sites and read email directly with your phone using WAP. WAP (wireless application protocol) is a protocol that allows mobile phones and some PDAs to access parts of the Internet.

Some mobile phones allow you to use them as a modem to connect to your ISP. This can be via a regular mobile phone connection or the much faster GPRS technology. GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) is a wireless communication service based on GSM communication. It delivers effective data rates up to 50 Kbps and continuous connection to the data services for mobile phone and computer users, as well as telematics applications. The higher data rates allow users to send multimedia messages, and interact with multimedia Web sites and similar applications using mobile handheld devices as well as notebook computers.