In order to access your health information on the internet you need to be able to connect to the internet, many local places will have free wireless connections that you can connect to but sometimes these connections are not secure. In order to set up a secure internet connection at home there are many things to consider. First you need to research internet service providers in your area and look at what internet services they provide and the cost. There are many different types on internet connections like dial-up, dsl, satellite, cable and 3G and 4G connections. You need to determine what is best for you and what is offered in your area, dial-up is typically the slowest connection and uses a phone line, dsl uses a broadband connection that is faster, satellite uses a satellite to connect, cable connects through your cable tv and 3G and 4G connect through your mobile phone. Once you choose a provider you need to get a modem, some providers will provide the modem for you, a modem will connect you to the internet and then you may need a router if you want to connect multiple devices to the internet. You can get a wireless router if you want to connect wirelessly to the internet. Now that you are connected you are ready to surf the web.
A few more things to consider are web browsers and the cloud, a web browser is the software program that you use to go to websites and access the internet, some common web browsers are Safari, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge. The cloud refers basically to anything that you can access over the internet, things in the cloud are saved over internet servers instead of saved onto a computer. Things like files, photos, and even email are stored in the cloud. You can also share files or photos with others when using the cloud.
Reference:
GCF Global. (n.d.) Internet basics: What is the internet? Retrieved November 3, 2019 from https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/internetbasics/what-is-the-internet/1/
