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This page provides links to information about Internet Service Providers (ISP). Internet Service Providers (also known as Internet Access Providers) provide access to the Internet through telephone line modems or other technologies.
The University of California at Berkeley provides internet access and services to its students, faculty and staff, some for free and some for a fee. Commercial Internet Service Providers provide internet access and services to the public for a fee.
To use the Internet from off campus via a plain telephone line using a modem, you need a UC Berkeley "Internet SHIPS", "Home IP" or commercial Internet Service Provider account. Additional or different hardware is required for DSL, cable, wireless and satellite access to the Internet. To use campus electronic mail ("email") services you also need an account on a system providing email service such as CalMail or a departmental email post office system.
| On-campus Only (for students, faculty and staff) | Getting Started, AirBears, LIPS, Residential Computing, Workstation Facilities, Campus Data Network |
| Dialup |
UC Berkeley (for students, faculity and staff), Commercial ISP (see below) |
| DSL | SBC (for public, for UCB department), Covad, Earthlink |
| Cable | Comcast, Astound |
| Satellite | DiRECWAY, StarBand |
| Wireless (Wi-Fi 2.4GHz) | AirBears (on-campus) |
| Wireless Telephone Data Services (limited Internet access) | For UCB departments |
Additional information about using your modem overseas may also be found in the comp.dcom.modems newsgroup, searchable via the web at Google
Users of commercial ISPs may experience network delays external to UC Berkeley. Some campus network services are not available or require a password if you use a commercial ISP to access the campus network.
A number of ISPs are now offering faster connections to home users for an additional cost. General information is available online:
Many ISPs now offer ISDN services up to 128 Kbytes/second. Type and cost of ISDN service varies, so it is worthwhile to compare the cost of services offered by several ISPs.
DSL has a maximum download speed of 1.5 Mbytes/second, about 10 times the speed of ISDN. Dedicated symmetric bandwidth service speeds are 144Kbytes/second, 160 Kbytes/second, 384 Kbytes/second, 416 Kbytes/second, 784 Kbytes/second and 1.04 Mbytes/second. Asymmetric DSL (ADSL) service speed of 1500/384 Kbytes/second may also be available.
Pacific Bell (now part of SBC) introduced a DSL service on the Peninsula, in the South Bay and in the East Bay on 13 Nov 1997. In May 1998 PacBell announced it would be providing DSL starting at $89 per month in 200 communities in California. With competition from other companies, the month cost of a home DSL internet connection dropped to a starting cost of about $59 in 1999. Monthly cost continued to drop about another $10 to $15 in 2000, but installation fees increased in 2001.
A number of DSL providers have had financial difficulties. The S.F. Chronicle reported in January 2001 that 8 companies had recently filed for bankruptcy or shut down and that a number of others had cut staff or were having other problems.
For more information about DSL see:
Contact your local cable-TV company to see if they offer Internet access via cable.
A typical home cable modem service has a maximum speed of about 3 Mbytes/sec. A cable modems transmits data at speeds up to 100 times faster than a standard 28.8 Kbps telephone modem. However, it is possible to overload a cable with too many users and there by reduce the effective speed of data transfer significantly.
Some cable-TV companies are offering access to the Internet via cable. For example, in March 1998, TCI.NET's @Home Network service was available in Antioch, Bay Point, Dublin, Fremont, Hercules, Livermore, Pleasanton, Petaluma, Pinole, Pittsburg and San Ramon, but not in other Bay Area TCI service areas. @Home began available in the Berkeley area in the fall of 1998. AT&T brought TCI in 1999. @Home ceased providing internet access on December 1st, 2001 to AT&T customers. In 2002 AT&T was offering a Broadband Internet service. AT&T Broadband was merged with Comcast at the end of 2002.
Hughes Network Systems, a Hughes Electronics Company, offers internet download service via satellite at speeds up to 500 Kbytes/second with a service called DiRECWAY (previously DirecPC). Starband offers a varity of services with download speeds of 500 Kbps to 1 Mbps and upload speeds of 50 to 256 Kbps. To use a satellite you must have a clear view to the satellite (e.g. no trees, buildings in the way). Provider may limit use based on usage. (Downloading large software packages via satellite is not recommended.)
Some portable global satellite connections can be much slower. For example, in 1998 COMSAT Corporation had a global satellite telephone with a 2.4 Kbps asynchronous (V.22bis) data connection and more expensive communication stations that can provide 64 Kbs connections. In 2002 Globalstar offers 9.6 Kpbs via a satelite phone. Inmarsat Global Area Network offers ISDN and packet data services upto 64 Kbps.
Links to commercial web pages or references to companies on this page are for the information of our customers and do not indicate an endorsement by the University of California or the State of California. Links or references to non-University entities do not represent endorsement by the Regents of the University of California.