vy use of the Internet; such costs are typically borne by companies or subsidized by the government through educational institutions (Stoll 19). Even in those situations where individuals pay for connecting to the Internet, there may be a flat-rate subsidized by advertising paid to the company providing the connection.
The telephone system that connects the world was originally developed to enable people to talk with other people not in the same physical location. This service was offered by companies who saw the service as a way to generate revenue and make a profit. Facsimile machines made it possible for machines to communicate with machines, but the printed word was still the medium of choice. The computer age also introduced the use of telephone lines to send bits of data, although voice and data generally traveled separately. Recently, fiber-optic technology has advanced to the point that it can now be economically implemented in across wide geographic areas. More efficient at carrying the so-called "broadband" data that video images require, and more reliable for transmitting traditional data across phone lines, the proliferation of fiber-optic networks led to the merging of communications and computers (Allen 2).
The potential to bring together large numbers of people through a single electronic connection has certainly captured the attention of business, which is one of the driving forces behind developing the Internet. Already, business has begun to reap the benefits of the so-called information superhighway through such technologies as electronic data interchange (EDI), bar coding, imaging and smart cards. These networks combine telecommunication facilities with electronic mail, and offer 24 hour a day service to global participants. There is generally a high degrees of fault tolerance within these networks, which may offer nonstop configuration of software along with low maintenance, as well (Lisanti 13).
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