What is an Internet Service Provider (ISP) and How does it work?
What is an Internet Service Provider (ISP), and How does it work?
The word ISP stands for Internet Service Provider. Although the concept of ISP still exists, ISP companies are practically non-existent. We all knew ISP as the provider and responsible for the Internet, and this term has a long history with the Internet. These companies have been providing Internet connection through telephone lines for home users, organizations, and offices since the Internet was introduced in the country.
What exactly do ISPs do?
An ISP usually provides Internet access to people for a fee. Without such companies, no one can shop online or visit social networks like Facebook and Instagram. Connecting to the Internet requires special equipment for remote communication, networking, and routing, provided to customers through ISPs and their contracted companies.
In simple terms, Internet service providers or ISPs give their users access to networks with the necessary equipment so that users can communicate with the Internet with the least equipment and cost. Also, ISPs are responsible for ensuring Internet access, routing Internet traffic, connecting to DNS (Domain Name Service), and maintaining network infrastructure for Internet access. These are covered and the responsibility of ISP companies.
What is the difference between ISP companies and NetCo and ServCo companies?
NetCo is a large net distribution company that got a license from a regulatory organization. These companies have enough financial resources, equipment, and experience to create a broadband internet platform. But service companies are smaller companies formed from several small companies’ consolidations. These companies use the facilities and equipment provided by NetCo networks and some other equipment to provide services to users.
Service companies contract with NetCo companies to use their equipment to provide services to users. But where are the ISP companies in this? ISP companies are part of ServCo companies. A company that operates as a ServCo can simultaneously provide internet services, etc., and sign contracts with other small companies to start operating under the name of one of its own companies. ISP companies can be one of these aggregated companies.
What services do ISP centers provide?
Internet service providers (ISPs) provide their subscribers with services such as e-mail and Internet phones or VOIP, renting dedicated IPs, and accessing the Internet through various Internet services at different speeds. These companies sometimes offer hosting services and domain sales or sell equipment needed by users to connect to the Internet, such as modems, splitters, cables, sockets, etc.
How does the ISP company provide the Internet to users?
Let’s start with a small office close to your home to understand the concept better. To establish such offices throughout the city and the country, a company first needs a ServCo license or a contract with a company that has received this license. We assume the required office has a contract with one of the service companies. Therefore, the first condition, broadband Internet access, has been provided for him.
The second step in providing internet service to users has the equipment to prepare the communication platform. (Sometimes, the contracting parties themselves provide this equipment; but in most cases, it is the final company that must provide the types of equipment)
After buying the equipment, the next thing is to buy a telecommunication port to send and receive subscriber data on telephone lines. It must be purchased through the telecommunication and the final Internet provider. The placement of telecommunications equipment and subscribers’ connection to the Internet is done through specialists hired by these companies (ISP), and the Internet connection platform is provided for users.
What happens on the phone line when visiting an ISP?
When you go to an Internet provider company or, in other words, the same ISP, the relevant experts first check the condition of your line for servicing. Telecommunications own some telephone lines, and no private company can service these lines. If luck is with you and your number can be serviced, they will check whether the Internet is free or busy on your line.
If you have not used internet services on your phone line before, you will not have a problem, but otherwise, you should first go to the office where you received internet service and request to disconnect the line. If there is no problem and service is possible, after choosing the desired service, a contract will be signed between you and the provider company to receive the service.
After that, depending on the line’s condition, it takes 24 to 72 hours to connect to the Internet and contact you for modem settings and Internet connection. During this period and behind the scenes, your number will be included in the list of numbers that should be able to receive and send internet data. Usually, companies do not configure lines for a number and wait a day or two to increase the list of subscribers because it is time-consuming to go to the telecommunications company to configure the line in addition to costs, and you can only contact the telecommunications company during office hours.
To provide services to subscribers, the ISP must have already installed a slam (its use will be described below) and a router in the PAP room in the telecommunication. The PAP room is the room where all ADSL providers place their equipment.
There is a section in telecommunications where all the lines of fixed city telephone subscribers are connected, that section is called the MDF room, and it is also called the connection of subscriber telephone lines in the MDF port room. The lines connected to the ports are transferred directly to the shared home in normal mode and without an internet connection. But when the subscriber requests ADSL internet, the subscriber’s phone line must be passed through the ISP company’s internet service and connection equipment.
This action causes a change in the common line to send and receive signals in the intervals related to the Internet. The operation of changing the common telephone line to communicate with the Internet is called range. In the line range, an intermediate device is placed between Islam and the common telephone port called KT or, in the newer term PT, which has three ports. A port is connected to the Islam, considered a gateway to the Internet. The second and third ports are connected to the common horn (to transmit call signals) and the output of the common side to transmit to the common house.
To put it more simply, the dslam port mounts the internet data on the subscriber’s call or beep data and sends it from the output to the subscriber’s home. In this way, the internet platform is provided on your phone line.
How is information sent and received when using the Internet?
When you open a web page on your system or search for a term, implementing these requests in your system is done digitally. Still, your phone lines cannot send digital signals and can only transmit analog signals. Unlike the digital signal, the analog signal is continuous and transmits sound. The figure below shows the difference in appearance between digital and analog signals.
For this reason, you need a modem device to convert system-specific signals (digital) to audio signals (analog). All the data from your various devices are converted into analog signals through the modem and transmitted to the telecommunication center along with other signals on the telephone line. The username and password registered in your modem settings will be checked there.
Will my information be available to the ISP?
It should be said yes, but this received and sent information is not checked in most cases. These reviews require additional costs, and ISP companies don’t care which sites you connect to. As long as you pay the service fee and contract fees on time is enough for them.
, But considering that our personal information is important. We may unwittingly think that an ISP is not listening to our personal information. You should know that this action is very difficult due to the involvement of different companies in the Internet service and the probability of this happening is almost one in a billion because, in addition to the mentioned cases, very strict rules are applied to grant traffic permits to telecommunications centers to install equipment. And listening to information is only possible by installing equipment on your line.
You may think, how will the blocked sites be detected if my information is not intercepted? The way to apply restrictions to some sites is that the address of these sites is redirected to another address, which is set and done by default.
How to keep personal information secure
Sometimes, some users think that using a VPN makes it impossible for service providers to access their personal information. At the same time, this possibility still exists for these companies unless you use services where the VPN server encrypts the information.
In this case, only your visits to the IPs of that VPN server will be registered. Another concern that may cause you is access to information sent and received by sites with HTTPS protocol. Such as sending bank information to payment gateways, which is very important and worrying. It’s good to know that when using sites whose addresses start with https://, everything between your computer and that site’s server is encrypted, so your ISP can’t intercept any of your data.
In summary, assuming it is impossible if an ISP decides to eavesdrop on the information of its users, it will only have information that is not encrypted (for example, normal sites without https permission). A lot of misfortune awaits them. So don’t worry too much about this.
