Do libraries use privately or publically owned ISPs?

Lebombo

Do public libraries connect to the internet with Comcast, ATT, Verizon..etc, or is there a government owned ISP that libraries use?

Greg Bernhardt

Good question, i don't know, but I bet they just use a local provider.

lugita15

As far as I know, there aren't any government-owned ISP's in the US.

rcgldr

In the USA, internet 2, is somewhat sponsored by government. I don't know how much govenment sponsorship is indirectly related to funding that goes through educational or research institutions. Some educational institutions have their own libraries, but I'm not sure if this is part of the answer the original post was asking for.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet2

mathman

I am not sure it is the same thing. However local libraries (Westchester County, NY) have @westlib.org for their email. Does this mean westlib.org is ISP?

jtbell

Is physicsforums.com an ISP?

lugita15

No, it doesn't. Your ISP is what gives you your Internet connection. This has nothing to do with whether you have a website, what your website is, whether you have an email account, and who provides your email account.

Evo

I know this is a year old, but I just saw it and the question might come up again, so here is the answer.

Libraries can use any ISP they want, BUT they generally go with county contracts. There is a special pricing process for them called e-rate. They usually only deal with the larger carriers which are equipped to handle these special bids. I used to handle GEM accounts (Government, Education, and Medical). An absolute PITA.

http://www.usac.org/sl/

http://transition.fcc.gov/learnnet/