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How does the internet work?

what is internet

What is the internet?

We define how Internet to the entire network of millions of computers that constantly exchange data among themselves. It is a global infrastructure that allows the transfer of information and data in the form of text, images, videos, audio and more. The Internet has become an essential part of modern life and has transformed the way people communicate, access information, work, study, shop and entertain themselves. All of these communicate because they are linked through fiber optic connections, cable... In order to establish communication between them, they use something called the TCP/IP protocol, they are rules that indicate how information should travel.

Internet

How Does the Internet Work?

Each of the computers that is connected to the Internet must use the same protocol so that they can establish communication between them, if they use different protocols it will be impossible for them to establish communication.

Nobody controls the Internet and that is why it works, and today it has become an essential service in our lives, whether it is to work, to have fun or to communicate and see people millions of kilometers away. In short, the Internet makes our lives much easier. In the past, in order to communicate with someone we had to write a letter and it took days until it reached the addressee. Since the Internet exists, in a matter of seconds we can send a message thousands of kilometers away.

ISP

A good and simple explanation of how a protocol works would be the following: First of all, to connect to a protocol we will need an ISP, its acronym means Internet Service Provider. Some examples of these providers would be: Movistar, Jazztel, Orange... These companies will be an intermediate node between the connection of our computer to the Internet, they are essential to be able to connect to the Internet.

The first thing the ISP does is assign a unique number to our PC on the network so that when our PC connects to the network it is identified. This number is called IP and its format is separated by dots.

IP

For all this to work, there cannot be two computers within the network with the same IP, let's say that the IP is like an identity that nobody else has and identifies us from the rest of the computers. An example of the IP address format would be 192 . 654 . 345. 124. XNUMX . XNUMX

The Internet is decentralized, this strengthens it. With so many connections possible, there is not a single point of failure, if a connection is interrupted or overloaded the data will simply seek another way to arrive, even when much of the internet is damaged the message can still reach its destination.

Router

The information that we want to send over the network, Before sending it, we must encode it so that the information can travel completely secure.

In the past, to connect to the Internet we used modems, the first ones that existed were inserted inside the computer tower and transmitted at very slow speeds (56 kb/s), today the so-called routers are used, which are a much more advanced technology than the old modems since they allow us much faster connections.

Normally the routers are accompanied by another device called ONT (Optical Node Terminal), this is used so that we can have a fiber optic connection and we can navigate at high speed.

The router or router is the one that is in charge of sending the information through the most appropriate path through the aforementioned protocols.

router

Who invented the internet?

The Internet was not invented by a single person, but was the result of contributions from multiple individuals and organizations over several decades. The idea of ​​a global communication network began to take shape in the 1960s.

Internet history

The history of the Internet is very long and difficult to explain since it spans several decades and has involved many people, institutions and technological advances. Here we briefly explain the most important and talked about milestones in the history of the Internet:

  1. 1960s – The beginnings:
    • ARPANET: The ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) project of the United States Department of Defense is considered the precursor of the Internet. It was designed to connect computers in different locations and allow communication in the event of a nuclear attack.
  2. 1970s – Protocol development:
    • Invention of TCP/IP: In 1973, Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn developed the TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) protocol, which became the core of the future Internet. Later, the IP (Internet Protocol) protocol was added to create TCP/IP, a set of protocols that allowed the interconnection of different networks.
  3. 1980s – Expansion and growth:
    • Domain Names and DNS: Domain names and the Domain Name System (DNS) were introduced, making Internet navigation easier by using easier-to-remember addresses instead of numerical IP addresses.
    • Development of the World Wide Web (WWW): Tim Berners-Lee, in 1989, invented the World Wide Web, which allowed the creation of web pages and navigation using hyperlinks.
  4. 1990s – Web Explosion:
    • Web Browsers: Marc Andreessen and Eric Bina created the Mosaic web browser in 1993, which was a turning point in the popularization of the Internet.
    • E-commerce: There was rapid growth in e-commerce, with websites such as Amazon and eBay.
  5. 2000s – Global Internet:
    • Global Expansion: The Internet spread rapidly worldwide, and access to it became increasingly common in homes and businesses.
    • Social networks: Popular social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, were developed, allowing online interaction.
  6. 2010s – Mobile Internet and the Cloud:
    • The proliferation of mobile devices: Accessing the Internet through mobile devices became the norm, changing the way people access the web.
    • Cloud Computing: Cloud services such as AWS (Amazon Web Services) and Google Cloud have become essential for storing and accessing data and applications online.
  7. 2020s – Continuous developments:
    • Internet of Things (IoT): IoT has become an important part of the Internet, with connected devices collecting and sharing data online.
    • Privacy and security: Concerns about online privacy and data security have increased, leading to the implementation of stricter regulations and security standards.

The history of the Internet is a constant evolution, and its scope and complexity have grown significantly over time. It has transformed society, the economy and communication around the world, becoming a fundamental tool in everyday life.

things about the internet

The definition of a web page would be information hosted in one or several files written with a programming language, all web pages that are on the Internet are hosted in a hosting also called a web server. In order to upload the files from the web page to the hosting we will need an FTP software, this allows us to store the files in the hosting to be able to view the web page later.

Servers generally, instead of registering with their IP, register with a domain name plus that of the generic top-level domain to point out the information contained in the server or the geographical area to which it belongs and the two separated by a dot. to make it easier to reach them.

There are many FTP software among them the best known and used would be Filezilla.

TLD domains

When we say that a website is "hung" on the internet, this means that it is visible to the public, anyone with a device that has internet access can view it and interact with it. All web pages need a domain name, this name will be unique, for example: www.redeweb.com It depends on the type of extension it has, it will be for a certain function or country.

For example, if it is directed to the Spanish public it will be .es, globally .com, if it is an organization .org…

HTTP and HTTPS protocols

To be able to enter a web page we will need a browser, it is the software in charge of being able to read the information in the language that the web page is written and to be able to visualize it.

The most used protocol for web pages today is HTTPS, in the past HTTP was used, today almost all the websites in the world are updated with the HTTPS protocol since it is much more secure due to data encryption…

Internet speed

There are several types of speeds when we talk about the internet:

The upload speed would be the one at which we send the information from our computer to the destination.

Download speed is the speed with which data is read from our computer to the destination through the Internet.

The transfer speed is the connection speed is measured in Megabytes per second and in Gigabytes per second, the faster the faster. Since the internet was born, this technology has advanced a lot since now we can download anything from the internet in a matter of seconds, when in the past it could take us hours.

Years ago, data transmission systems such as ISDN or cable were used, but today almost all data transmissions are through fiber optics or ADSL since the other systems have become totally obsolete.

how the internet works

What services does the internet offer us?

According to official data, the Internet is used by 4600 billion people around the world and offers us a series of services that have revolutionized the world of technology.

  • Social networks: Social networks are one of the main services offered by the internet since we could say that they have revolutionized the world since they are the most used software to be able to keep in touch with our family, friends... They have also become a very important business. important for companies since they can promote themselves and increase their visibility on the internet.
  • Online shopping: They have revolutionized the world of internet sales, since today most of the population makes their purchases online more comfortably.
  • Search for information: There are different types of search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo or Ask commonly used in Europe and America. Baidu is the most used search engine in China, it is equivalent to Google but with many limitations imposed by the Chinese government. Yandex is the most popular search engine in Russia and related countries.
  • File transfer or FTP: On the internet there is a large amount of information, ftp allows us to upload or download files from the internet using software, one of the best known that we have named above would be Filezilla.
  • IP telephony: Also known as VOIP, we can have a telephone conversation or video call with applications such as skype, whatsapp, facetime... P2P networks: It consists of two computers communicating with each other to be able to exchange files between them, emule, ares was widely used in the past … nowadays it is not used so much anymore because there are other platforms that for a small cost you can watch movies, series… in direct streaming.
  • Email: It is one of the oldest on the Internet, it gives us the possibility of being able to send messages electronically to share information.
  • World Wide Web: It is based on the HTML language and the HTTP protocol, the HTTP protocol is the most powerful and used on the Internet and in the world since it is very fast and simple.
  • Forums: Sections where people post their answers and questions around a topic and other users answer them. The questions and answers are saved and can be consulted by other visitors. These discussion forums are really useful, usually there is an administrator who is in charge of moderating the questions and answers.
  • Chat or instant messaging: The use of chat programs such as WhatsApp or Telegram make life easier for us since we can send a message in a matter of thousandths of a second. There are also IRC or Chat are what we normally call chat rooms to interact with other users through a website.
  • Streaming: Years ago there was only text and images on the Internet, all this has been transformed into a huge multimedia library with all kinds of files in different formats. The advent of streaming technology allowed us to listen to audio and watch videos in real time and without having to download them completely, we listen while the download is being carried out. This advance has allowed many radio and television stations to transmit their programming, apart from the traditional signal, through the Internet. There are also some internet platforms that allow us to broadcast live with streaming, some people have become famous on some platforms in this way that today it is already considered a job.

ip

Explanatory video of how the Internet works

In this video he explains carefully how the internet works step by step and in a more visual and easy to understand way.

Article written by Spanish Magazine of Electronics In collaboration with Blessed SEO.