Lesson 3. Internet frequently asked questions (FAQs)

 

I. Look through the questions given below and try to answer them.

How old is the Internet (the Net)?

Who created the Internet?

Did the Internet become popular quickly?

How do you get online?

How fast are today’s internet connections?

How long has broadband existed?

How much does broadband cost?

Why do you need a modem?

What does TCP/IP mean?

Are there other ways of accessing the Internet?

 

II. Study the answers to the questions given above. Give some additional information.

1. It’s hard to say exactly. The research that led to what we now know as the Internet was begun in the 1960s.

2. It’s hard to say exactly who did it. The initial research was carried out by the Advanced Research PROJECTS Agency in America, funded by the US government.

3. It took many years for the Internet to become popular. It’s since the mid-90s that the Internet has been a part of our daily lives.

4. To get connected, you need the right connection software and a modem. You also need an account with the Internet Service Provider (ISP), which acts as a gateway.

5. The most common types of ISPs are cable — offered by local cable TV companies —and ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line). Broadband access is also offered by some electricity networks. This technology is known as power-line Internet, but it is still in development.

6. Since the late 1990s.

7. It depends on which company you choose.

8. A modem (modulator/ demodulator) converts digital signals into analogue ones so that data can be transmitted across the phone or cable network.

9. That’s the language used for data transfer. This is like the internet operating system. Computers connected to the Net are identified by a unique IP address.

10. Other methods include Wi-Fi, satellite, mobile phones and TV sets. Wi-Fi-enabled laptops or PDAs allow you to connect to the Net if you are near a wireless access point, in locations called hotpots (e.g. a Wi-Fi café, park or campus). Satellite services are used in places where terrestrial access is not available (e.g. on ships at sea).

 

III. Which of the internet systems (1-6) you would use to do the tasks (A-F).

1 Email	A transfer files from the Net to your hard drive
2 The Web	B send a message to another person via the Net
3 Newsgroups	C have a live talk (usually typed) online
4 Chat and IM	D connect to a remote computer by entering instructions, and run a program on it
5 FTP	E take part in public discussion areas devoted to specific topics
6 Telnet	F download and view documents published on the Internet

IV. Now read Part 2 of the FAQs and check your answers.

Internet FAQs: Part 2

Email lets exchange messages. Optional attached files can include text, pictures, audio and animation. A mailing list uses email to communicate to everyone that belongs to the list.

Which email program is the best? Outlook Express is a popular program, but many users use web-based 3email accounts such as Hotmail.

The Web consists of billions of documents living on web servers that use the HTTP protocol. You navigate through the Web using a web browser, which lets you search, view and print web pages.

How often are web pages updated? Some web pages are updated thousands of times a day.

Chat and Instant Messaging technologies allow having real-time conversations online, by typing messages at the keyboard.

FTP, or file transfer protocol, is used to transfer files over a TCP/IP network. This feature is nowadays built into browsers to let you download files to your hard drive.

Telnet is a protocol and a program used to log onto remote computer systems. You can enter commands which will be executed as if you were entering them directly on the remote server.

Newsgroups are the public discussion areas which make up a system called Usernet. The contents are contributed by people who post articles or respond to articles, creation chains of relating postings called message threads. You need a newsreader which may be a stand-alone program or part of a web browser. There are about 30,000 active newsgroups.

Your newsreader allows you to download the newsgroup addresses that your ISP has included on its news serer. An alternative is to visit web forums instead, which perform the same function but without the additional software.

 

V. Find words and phrases in Part 2 with the following meanings.

1 a system used to distribute email to many different subscribers at once

2  a program used for displaying web pages

3 to connect to a computer by typing your username and password

4 a series of interrelated messages on a given topic

5 a program for reading Usernet newsgroups

 

VI. Read and translate the text.

Electronic mail

Electronic mail or e-mail is the electronic transmission of messages, letters, and documents. In its broadest sense electronic mail includes point-to-point services such as telegraph and facsimile (fax) systems. It is commonly thought of, however, in terms of computer-based message systems where the electronic text file that is received can be edited, replied to, excerpted, or even pasted into another electronic document that can be used or manipulated by a word processor, desktop publishing system, or other computer program. Users of such systems, called store-and-forward or mailbox systems, can broadcast messages to multiple recipients, read and discard messages, file and retrieve messages, or forward messages to other users. Extensions to e-mail allow the user to add graphics and sound to messages, and files can be attached to e-mails. Computer-based messaging can take place on a single computer, a computer network, or across gateways linking different computer networks (as through the Internet). With the increasing use of e-mail, unsolicited commercial e-mail, known as spam, has become a significant problem. E-mail, especially through attachments, has also become a means for disseminating computer viruses and other malicious programs.