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() wrote in
ink.net:

In article ,
John McCoy wrote:

Rich Andrews wrote in
.3.44:

JD, When it comes to ISP desginations, either you use an ISP or you
are an ISP. You cannot connect to the net unless you are one or the
other.

This is not correct.

Actually, it *IS* very nearly correct.

There are many people who have connections
that do not go thru an ISP (for starters, most .edu and .mil
users have a connection to the backbone which does not go thru
an ISP).

It depends on how you define an ISP. There are people who sell
'transit' services only, sometimes called an IAP (Internet _ACCESS_
Provider), to differentiate them from the 'full service" providers.

Yes, that's the distinction I was making. "Backbone" is a handy
non-technical term for the lower layers of the net - it's a pity
it's gone out of use even tho it's not descriptive of the actual
physical structure any longer.

John