About Dial-Up Connections

A dial-up connection to the Internet works over an ordinary phone line. Dial-up connections use the Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) and are also called PPP accounts. Early dial-up connections used older protocols (SLIP and CSLIP), but these protocols are no longer used.
To use a dial-up account, you need a modem. (To distinguish dial-up modems from newer, high-speed modems, they are also called analog modems or dial-up modems.) Most computers come with an internal modem-eheck the back of the computer for a phone jack (RJ-ll jack). Most ISPs support modems at speeds of 28.8 kilobits per second (Kbps) and 56 Kbps. You connect only when you want to use Internet services and disconnect (hang up) when you are done.

To connect, you need a PPP-compatible communications program, such as Dial-Up Networking, which comes with all versions of Windows since Windows 95. This program dials the phone by using your modem, connects to your ISP, logs into your account by using your user name and password, and then establishes a PPP connection, thus connecting your computer to the Internet. While connected, you can use a variety of programs to read your e-mail, browse the Web, and access other information from the Internet. When you are done, you use your communications program to disconnect from your Internet account.