ISP is an acronym that can refer to different issues. Generally, these three letters refer to the English expression “Internet service provider” , or “Internet service provider” in our language.
An ISP , in this sense, is a company that offers Internet connection. This means that an ISP 's clients can connect to the Web thanks to the infrastructure provided by the company ( cable modem , ADSL or other).
When the Internet became a network open to users in general, ISPs emerged to market said connection service. In the beginning, connections were made through telephone lines ( dial-up ) and Internet users generally had to pay according to the time they remained online.
Thanks to the advancement of technology , other systems emerged that increased connection speed and modified access plans. Nowadays ISPs offer broadband connectivity.
Movistar, Fibertel, Clear, DirecTV, AT&T y Comcast son algunos de los ISP más conocidos en diferentes countries. Varios ISP no solo comercializan la conexión a Internet, sino que además brindan otros servicios (de telefonía celular o móvil, TV por cable, etc.).
In Chile , on the other hand, ISP is the Institute of Public Health . It is an entity that depends on the Ministry of Health and whose function is linked to improving public health conditions. The origins of the ISP date back to 1892 , when the Institute of Hygiene was created.
The set of services that manage Internet servers is known as ISP hosting to give the organizations or individuals that hire them the possibility of uploading content to the network. There is a wide variety of services of this type, which differ in their features and, of course, in their price.
This type of ISP can offer its clients a hosting service on servers with different characteristics, according to their needs, so that they can store their sites and programs there. Generally, these people have, in turn, their own clients, who access the content hosted on the servers, either directly and actively or indirectly and passively, depending on whether they are Internet sites, mobile applications, etc. .
Needless to say, the resources necessary to maintain a service of these characteristics are considerable, both at a material level (physical space, equipment, wiring, cooling) and at a human level (care of the network, analysis to detect errors, equipment update). This entails the need for an economic investment that affects the final price of the service.
It is not always easy for companies to choose a suitable ISP, since advertisements do not provide them with the specific data that they must take into account. This applies to both large and small companies, although the latter have the least economic resources, and therefore must be especially well informed before making the decision.
Among the points to carefully evaluate before hiring an ISP are the types of connection they offer, the speed of the bandwidth , the price of the equipment and the registration , in addition to the fine print regarding the conditions of use and permanence. This last aspect is the most decisive in cases in which the client decides to change suppliers shortly after the contract begins.
Another use of ISP is related to “In-system programming ” , a characteristic of certain electronic circuits and logical devices that can be programmed when they are already installed, without the need for programming prior to installation.