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Residential Internet access can be considered as taking place in two steps: The first steps network carries traffic between your home and some (generally local) point-of-presence. The second step involves carrying traffic between that point-of-presence and the rest of the Internet. An Internet Service Provider handles the second step.
In the days of dial-up Internet access (still relevant in many places) that first step took place over lines normally used for plain old telephone service (POTS). The home user would dial a local number which connected them to an office run by their Internet Service Provider, consisting (at the very least) of a modem pool and an upstream connection to the Internet and any hardware and software necessary to ferry traffic between the modems and the upstream connection.
In Ames as of Summer 2004, most hardwired, high-speed, residential Internet connections are provided over either cable, provided by ![[WWW]](/wiki/img/moin-www.gif "[WWW]"){kind=small}
Mediacom, or DSL (which uses the same pair of copper wires owned by Qwest that carries regular telephone service).
In the case of cable Internet service, the ISP is bundled into the price of the service, and the end-user has no choice to choose amongst other ISPs while still using cable.
In the case of DSL service, the first step beyond the home is carried exclusively by Qwest, but one has a choice among many ISPs:
Some companies also provide Internet access via radio signals.
