The only way to get such access is to work for an organization or be a student at a university on the Internet. An individual or small company wishing to become part of the Internet would have to spend thousands of dollars a month for the equipment and phone lines. Full access at reduced data rates is possible and affordable. But the connection between the user and the company's computer is over an ordinary phone line. These lines operate so much slower than the Internet that actions that should take minutes may take hours.
Limited access is available through commercial on-line services at very reasonable cost.
Delphi offers the most services. Some computer users, especially Windows fans, find Delphi to be old-fashioned, but more modern software is on the way. America Online also offers many Internet services. Prodigy and CompuServe have been a little slower in providing such services, but both are trying to catch up. Internet access through these commercial on-line services is evolving rapidly in response to customer demands.