usually means a pay service such as Compuserve or GEnie.
A company that provides customer only content to subscribers of their service. Most On-line services now offer Internet access, but their main feature is the privately maintained network that is only accessible to their customers. This network is not part of the Internet, although some On-line services are currently making some content available on the Web. Examples: AOL, MSN, Compuserve, Prodigy
A service, such as CompuServe or America Online, that provides access to a network of information, services and a community of other subscribers as well as to the Internet.
A dial-up service, such as CompuServe or America Online, which provides access to the Internet and other electronic services on a subscription basis.
An organization that offers a large menu of Internet services to its paid subscribers. Some examples are Prodigy, Compuserve, and America Online.
A commercial service that provides capabilities such as e-mail, discussion forums, technical support, software libraries, news, weather reports, stock prices, plane reservations or electronic shopping malls. To access one, you need a modem.
A service which provides its own discussion-groups, file archives and mail facilities, and which nowadays also provides access to the Internet.
An information service a computer can access through telephone lines with a modem.
