Telnet is really just a glorified text-based protocol, but this is a good thing because so are many of the protocols used on the internet currently - HTTP, POP3 and SMTP. In simple terms this means that you can browse the web, read and create e-mail - in short using those same services but via a simpler text-only interface which has more practical uses than you can imagine, not to mention it's a neat and impressive trick to show to people who aren't very technical. This guide covers the basics mentioned above as well as touching on proxies, wingates, creating bounced messages as well as discussing alternatives to the standard telnet client.
