Home Networking Simplified: An Illustrated Home Networking Handbook for the Everyday User

Chapter 3. Connecting to the Internet

This chapter begins with a brief description of the Internet—what it is, how it’s put together, and how it works. We also cover how e-mail works and what the different options are for creating and using e-mail. This chapter ends with a detailed “How to Build It” section, which shows you how to connect to the Internet (including how to install a modem) and how to configure your e-mail.

The Internet

The Internet is one of the greatest technological wonders of the 20^th century. In the 1990s, the availability and usage of the Internet changed the way people communicated, the way they sought entertainment, and the way they did business.

The key to the Internet was the creation of a series of networks that was large ...