Stuffs data into unused portions of the TV signal. Favorite Web sites are downloaded in the background and stored on your hard disk for fast retrieval whenever you're ready. If you want to randomly surf other sites, you connect over ordinary phone lines. Use the TV as a monitor. Advocated by WorldGate.
Cable operators install powerful computers at the home office.
Without realizing it, viewers use those central computers to surf the Internet. Works with existing set-top boxes. Advocated by NetChannel, Microsoft's WebTV, Oracle's NCI spinoff, Intel's Intercast among others. Most of these use portions of the TV signal to get data to you. The first two concepts may achieve some middling success, though it will take years.