The Internet and How it Works

The Internet is essentially a vast global network, which connects computers all around the globe. Through the Internet, individuals are able to share data and communicate with each other from virtually anywhere with an Internet connection available. Internet service providers are responsible for providing this network, as well as for maintaining high-speed Internet in all communities and regions. Internet service providers offer both cable and DSL Internet service to residential customers, and many also offer satellite Internet service.

Broadband Internet connections utilize radio waves to transmit information. These waves are carried through the air by broadband networks and then via a gateway called the ISP, which is usually a communications company. Once the information has been transmitted, it travels along the Internet until it comes into contact with a user’s Internet hardware. This user’s computer is what receives the information, and the information passes through several networks until it reaches the destination site of the website that the Internet user wants to visit. It is this Internet infrastructure that determines how fast the information can travel, how quickly it is updated, and how quickly it can be used.

When these Internet networks to send and receive data, it is called networking. Networking is done through file systems called servers, and these servers contain the storage of files for all the different Internet networks that the PC user has registered with. A typical computer will have a file server, or a cache server, on its own internal hard drive. Other types of networks, such as those that use a modem such as DSL, use their own type of cache server to provide access to the Internet for Internet applications like email and web browsing.