The global communication network that allows almost all computers worldwide to connect and exchange information.
What is the internet?
The internet is the larger network that connects computer networks maintained by corporations, governments, universities, and other organizations all around the world. As a result, a tangle of cables, computers, data centers, routers, servers, repeaters, satellites, and wifi towers allows digital data to go across the world. That infrastructure allows you to purchase your weekly groceries, discuss your life on F44ebook, watch Outcast on N3tflix, contact your aunt in Wollongong, and search the internet for the world's tiniest cat.
How big is the internet?
One metric is the quantity of data that passes through it each day: around five exabytes. That's 40,000 two-hour standard definition movies each second. It needs some configuring. Hundreds of thousands of miles of cable span countries, and thousands more are placed along sea floors to connect islands and continents. The current internet is supported by around 300 underwater cables, the deep-sea variety of which is only as thick as a garden hose. Most are bundles of hair-thin fiber optics that transmit data at light speed. The cables range in length from the 80-mile Dublin-Anglesey link to the 12,000-mile Asia-America Gateway, which connects California to Singapore, Hong Kong, and other Asian cities. A startling number of individuals are served by major cables. Tens of millions of internet users in Africa, India, Pakistan, and the Middle East were disrupted by damage to two naval cables near the Egyptian port of Alexandria in 2008. Sir Stuart Peach, the head of the British military command, warned last year that destroying naval cables may endanger world business and the internet.
How did it come to being?
The Internet did not appear out of nowhere in the 1990s. It originated in the 1960s as a project supported by the United States of America's military to develop a new method of information exchange. Universities in Western nations linked in the 1980s to share research and academic content. Tim Berners-Lee established the World Wide Web (www) while working at CERN in 1989, and the Internet went public in 1991. Because the internet was created by the government, its usage was limited to research, education, and government institutions.
What is a network?
According to the definition, the Internet is a collection of networks. Understanding the fundamental item is essential for understanding the totality. We'll keep zooming out.
A network is made up of the following components:
a) nodes (computers),
b) means of connection (wired earlier, now wireless),
c) specialized network hardware (discussed below).
An ethernet cable is used to connect two computers.
This is a straightforward network. Before Wi-Fi became widely available, this and Bluetooth were the primary methods of data transport. Today, an ethernet connection is also used to connect a computer to a printer (with older printer models).
The Internet, on the other hand, links far more than two computers.
Things become complicated here. 45 cables are required to connect 10 computers, with nine connectors on each machine. Imagine having to deal with 100 computers!
To address this issue, each computer in a network is linked to a device known as a router.
A router's function is comparable to that of a postman: it ensures that a parcel from sender A reaches receiver B without bothering others in the neighborhood. In our situation, the parcel is referred to as a packet.
The router is represented by the blue box.
A single router can only connect to a certain number of PCs. However, a router may link to another router and so connect to even more computers.
This is only one network.
How is each and every house connected?
Lines of communication As telephones became outdated as mobile phones proliferated, many of the connections were utilized to connect to the Internet.
How are computer signals communicated through telephone lines?
Modems on the receiver’s end convert the telephone signals to their original form. The above diagram is wrong. The modems directly do not connect to the Internet as shown. The sent telephone signals are sent to an Internet Service Provider or ISP in short.
Who is an ISP?
An ISP (internet service provider) is often a corporation that you must pay to use the Internet. Your service provider connects your computer to other servers on the Internet. Tier 1 providers are those who operate their own trunk networks, whereas Tier 2 providers are those that acquire Internet transit from the former.
How do people with different ISPs communicate?
ISPs are not inextricably linked. Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) are physical links between networks that facilitate data exchanges and are located within the backbone (described below). These allow user 1 with 'A' ISP to email user 2 with 'B' ISP for free.
To summarize: This is how an Internet connection works.
