How does the Internet work?

The Internet is a worldwide network that adheres to specific methods of data transfer in order to establish a standardized communication highway. Anyone with access can send and receive information over the Internet by using Internet-enabled software, which understands the online protocols or language of the Internet. But how exactly does it work?

The backbone of the Internet consists of a powerful set of telephone lines including T3 lines, capable of transferring data at a very fast rate of about 45 megabites per second The lines link metropolitan cities and include national access points or feeds. If you imagine a geographic map, they are equivalent major highways, explaining why the Internet is often referred to as the Information Superhighway.

The backbone of the Internet is operated and maintained by various companies and organizations working cooperatively without centralized ownership. Redundancy is built into the backbone of the Internet so that if one or more major lines go down, traffic can be rerouted, much like a traffic detour when a highway is temporarily under construction. While this might slow Internet traffic, it will not ‘break’ the Internet.

And that provides the technology necessary for your computer to hook into the Internet.

So Manners Are Required, Right?

No. An ISP is required.

All those protocols allow computers to communicate. You have a computer. You want to play along. Typically, this is how it works.

Your computer connects to an Internet Service Provider. You may be dialing up or you may be using high bandwidth method, such as DSL or cable, to connect. Your computer connects to your ISP's server. Once there, your ISP provides you with the gateway to connect to any other computer that has opened itself up to the world.

When you type in a domain - such as www.popularimages.info - that domain is translated into a number - the IP address - and you are taken to that specific computer. Once there, your web browser allows you to look at specific files. These files can include programming, text, pictures, sound, or video in various combinations.

And E-mail?

Want a meatspace metaphor? Okay. You write a letter and take it to the mailbox. It sits in the mailbox until the mail carrier picks it up. The address on the front of the envelope directs the letter to a specific person at a specific location. It's taken to the addressee's mailbox and put inside. It sits there until the addressee walks out to the mailbox and gets the letter.

Which is basically how e-mail works. You address the email - myfriend@gmail.com - the part before the "@" signifies the person; the part after the "@" the server. Your e-mail sits in a queue on a computer - called a server - at your ISP. Your ISP sends out all the queued up e-mails. Those e-mails go to the specified servers and then are routed to the specified users. The e-mail sits there until the user goes online to pick up her mail.

That's It

When you access the Internet, you are simply using a series of protocols that have been developed so that you can view, download, and send and receive data from a computer that isn't yours. Pretty cool, eh?