Questions on Servers and ISP's

[ukilledthecat]

Not wanting to pay inane amounts for web hosting, I looked into using an old PC as a server. While this was a viable source of hosting space for me, my ISP disagrees and prohibits the running of a server on their access. My question now is what is needed to have your own ISP? How does an ISP access the internet and in turn allows you to access their services? Is this even possible? Ultimately, how does it work and can I bypass the system by owning my own equipment?

[ktkendall]

I'm no expert on this subject but I do remember back in June of 2000 I went to a Windows/LAN/Networking class and she touched on this subject a bit enough to say that there are no IP addresses left which means you pretty much have to sign up with someone who already owns a public IP address and offers hosting. They are going to be expanding the IP addressing scheme, but I think the hold up is in figuring how to do that and keep all the existing ones still valid and working.

[doctorgonzo]

Even if you set up your own ISP, you would have to connect to the main Internet backbones somehow, and that means paying somebody money. If you want to use your own PC as a server, your cheapest bet is a business account from an ISP.

[Statica]

http://www.isp-planet.com/resources/isp_guide/1_start.html
http://www.alliancedatacom.com/isp/start_isp.asp

[DragonNOA1]

Great links Statica. There is a lot of info on those sites. My mind hurts.