Broadband internet access
| Unit | Symbol | Bits | Bytes | |
| Kilobit per second | (103) | kbit/s | 1,000 bit/s | 125 B/s |
| Megabit/s | (106) | Mbit/s | 1,000 kbit/s | 125 kB/s |
| Gigabit/s | (109) | Gbit/s | 1,000 Mbit/s | 125 MB/s |
| Terabit/s | (1012) | Tbit/s | 1,000 Gbit/s | 125 GB/s |
| Petabit/s | (1015) | Pbit/s | 1,000 Tbit/s | 125 TB/s |
| Unit | Symbol | Bits | Bytes | |
| Kilobyte per second | (103) | kB/s | 8,000 bit/s | 1,000 B/s |
| Megabyte/s | (106) | MB/s | 8,000 kbit/s | 1,000 kB/s |
| Gigabyte/s | (109) | GB/s | 8,000 Mbit/s | 1,000 MB/s |
| Terabyte/s | (1012) | TB/s | 8,000 Gbit/s | 1,000 GB/s |
| Petabyte/s | (1015) | PB/s | 8,000 Tbit/s | 1,000 TB/s |
| 2005 | 2010 | 2014a | |
| World population | 6.5 billion | 6.9 billion | 7.2 billion |
| Not using the Internet | 84% | 70% | 60% |
| Using the Internet | 16% | 30% | 40% |
| Users in the developing world | 8% | 21% | 32% |
| Users in the developed world | 51% | 67% | 78% |
| a Estimate. Source: International Telecommunications Union. |
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| 2005 | 2010 | 2014a | |
| Africa | 2% | 10% | 19% |
| Americas | 36% | 49% | 65% |
| Arab States | 8% | 26% | 41% |
| Asia and Pacific | 9% | 23% | 32% |
| Commonwealth of Independent States |
10% |
34% |
56% |
| Europe | 46% | 67% | 75% |
| a Estimate. Source: International Telecommunications Union. |
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Internet access is the process that enables individuals and organisations to connect to the Internet using computer terminals, computers, mobile devices, sometimes via computer networks. Once connected to the Internet, users can access Internet services, such as email and the World Wide Web. Internet service providers (ISPs) offer Internet access through various technologies that offer a wide range of data signaling rates (speeds).
Consumer use of the Internet first became popular through dial-up Internet access in the 1990s. By the first decade of the 21st century, many consumers in developed nations used faster, broadband Internet access technologies. By 2014 this was almost ubiquitous worldwide, with a global average connection speed exceeding 4 Mbit/s.
The Internet developed from the ARPANET, which was funded by the US government to support projects within the government and at universities and research laboratories in the US – but grew over time to include most of the world's large universities and the research arms of many technology companies. Use by a wider audience only came in 1995 when restrictions on the use of the Internet to carry commercial traffic were lifted.
In the early to mid-1980s, most Internet access was from personal computers and workstations directly connected to local area networks or from dial-up connections using modems and analog telephone lines. LANs typically operated at 10 Mbit/s, while modem data-rates grew from 1200 bit/s in the early 1980s, to 56 kbit/s by the late 1990s. Initially, dial-up connections were made from terminals or computers running terminal emulation software to terminal servers on LANs. These dial-up connections did not support end-to-end use of the Internet protocols and only provided terminal to host connections. The introduction of network access servers supporting the (SLIP) and later the (PPP) extended the Internet protocols and made the full range of Internet services available to dial-up users; although slower, due to the lower data rates available using dial-up.
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