For many people, the easiest way of accessing the Internet, although a limited one, is to use a commercial online service, such as CompuServe, America Online, or eWorld. And, just to ward off this question right away, no, you cannot access files or databases on a commercial service via a normal Internet account.
Commercial services offer two main advantages over finding a real Internet access provider.
First, because they have deals with international commercial network carriers such as SprintNet, finding a local phone number is usually easier. But, you pay for that easier access, usually with the connect-time fee for the commercial service. Second, the commercial services find it easier to offer commercial-quality information, because they can charge users to access that information and then pay the information provider. Hence you find, for example, full-text databases of computer magazines on CompuServe, but you pay extra for any searches in those databases, with the revenue going to the magazine publishers. All the commercial services have Internet email gateways, which means that you can use these services to send and receive Internet email.