How the Internet Works

The Internet is a vast network that allows computers around the world to communicate and share information. Huge amounts of information in the form of words, images, sounds, and computer software are transmitted through the Internet. The Internet links computers mainly by the telephone system through copper wires, optical fibers, cables, or radio waves.

Access to the Internet begins with a computer linked to the telephone lines through a device called a modem. Special software is needed to convert computer files into the type of signals that can travel through telephone wires. The signals are then launched into the phone lines through the modem. The phone lines lead to an internet service provider or a commercial on-line service, which acts as a conduit to the Internet.

Computers break up the message up into packets clusters of 40 up to around 1,000 characters. Each packet, individually marked with its destination, is then sent through a series of computers called routers, that direct the path of the packet. Each router examines the packet to see where it is headed and sends it along the best path to its destination.

Packets from the same message may take different routes to reach the same destination. The packets eventually all arrive at the same place and are pieced back together into the original message.