What is incredible about this process is that a message can leave one computer and travel halfway across the world through several different networks and arrive at another computer in a fraction of a second!
The routers determine where to send information from one computer to another. Routers are specialized computers that send your messages and those of every other Internet user speeding to their destinations along thousands of pathways. A router has two separate, but related, jobs: It ensures that information doesn't go where it's not needed.
This is crucial for keeping large volumes of data from clogging the connections of "innocent bystanders. In performing these two jobs, a router is extremely useful in dealing with two separate computer networks.
It joins the two networks, passing information from one to the other. It also protects the networks from one another, preventing the traffic on one from unnecessarily spilling over to the other.
Regardless of how many networks are attached, the basic operation and function of the router remains the same. Since the Internet is one huge network made up of tens of thousands of smaller networks, its use of routers is an absolute necessity.
For more information, read How Routers Work. Backbones are typically fiber optic trunk lines. The trunk line has multiple fiber optic cables combined together to increase the capacity. Compare that to a typical 56K modem transmitting 56, bps and you see just how fast a modern backbone is. Today there are many companies that operate their own high-capacity backbones, and all of them interconnect at various NAPs around the world.
In this way, everyone on the Internet, no matter where they are and what company they use, is able to talk to everyone else on the planet. The entire Internet is a gigantic, sprawling agreement between companies to intercommunicate freely. The IP stands for Internet Protocol , which is the language that computers use to communicate over the Internet.
A protocol is the pre-defined way that someone who wants to use a service talks with that service. The "someone" could be a person, but more often it is a computer program like a Web browser. A typical IP address looks like this: But computers communicate in binary form. Look at the same IP address in binary: If you add all the positions together, you get 32, which is why IP addresses are considered bit numbers. Since each of the eight positions can have two different states 1 or zero , the total number of possible combinations per octet is 2 8 or So each octet can contain any value between zero and Combine the four octets and you get 2 32 or a possible 4,,, unique values!
Out of the almost 4. For example, the IP address 0. The octets serve a purpose other than simply separating the numbers. They are used to create classes of IP addresses that can be assigned to a particular business, government or other entity based on size and need. The octets are split into two sections: Net and Host. The Net section always contains the first octet. It is used to identify the network that a computer belongs to. Host sometimes referred to as Node identifies the actual computer on the network.
The Host section always contains the last octet. There are five IP classes plus certain special addresses. Internet Protocol: Domain Name System When the Internet was in its infancy, it consisted of a small number of computers hooked together with modems and telephone lines. You could only make connections by providing the IP address of the computer you wanted to establish a link with.
Behind all of this was a multi-layered web of connections. The trail leads to Tier 1 carriers that can reach every network access point without having to pay for access. These Tier 1 companies own the infrastructure in their region. Internet service providers provide their customers access to the Internet—plain access providers just handle the traffic between the individual and the Internet as a whole.
But there may also be other services bundled in depending on the customer's location and availability. Some of these services include:. Consumers and businesses are accustomed to the idea that they should be able to connect to the Internet from anywhere—whether at home or while sitting in a local coffee shop. In order to deliver connectivity at high speed, companies have to invest in expensive infrastructure that includes fiber optic cables.
Because of the high cost of investment, Tier 1 ISPs often appear like a monopoly in their regions. So a specific company may appear to have near or total control of the market in a particular area.
In the U. This idea is reinforced by the fact that some of the major American ISPs got there using infrastructure they inherited from the original telecom monopoly that was Ma Bell. Current Tier 1 ISPs continue to invest in infrastructure and they may well be the only players in that market until new technologies that don't depend on fiber in the ground emerge. Think the likes of Starlink, an entity inside SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk, which is developing a low-latency, broadband internet system that aims to meet the needs of consumers across the globe, enabled by a constellation of low Earth orbit satellites.
The ongoing demand for faster speeds and an improved Internet experience means that some of the biggest ISPs have begun investing heavily in 5G wireless technology. Others have tried to enter the Tier 1 ISP market and have met with mixed results. Alphabet , Google's parent company, ran Google Fiber as part of its Access Division—an ambitious project to lay a new network of fiber across the United States—but this plan was scaled back in For a while, it looked like Google Fiber would be available only in a limited number of cities.
However, in July , the company announced it was partnering with the city of West Des Moines, Iowa, to provide the city's residents and businesses with gigabit Internet service. This represents Google Fiber's first expansion in four years.
While it's too early to tell if this represents an overall trend that will see Google Fiber in more regions across the U. Many of the largest ISPs are also large telecommunications companies that provide a wide array of services. The conglomerate offers local and long-distance voice, as well as broadband video, data center and cloud services, and security and managed network services. To help low-income families and seniors handle the cost, some ISPs offer special programs.
The government also opened an Emergency Broadband Benefit EBB program on May 12, , to provide help to families to get these services. Pew Research Center. Google Fiber. Federal Communications Commission. Company Profiles. Business Essentials. To be able to do that, you simply need a router that also has an Ethernet port. ISPs that allow for both Wi-Fi and Ethernet connections accomplish this through what's called a "mixed network. Using an Ethernet cable instead of Wi-Fi can also help speed up your internet access.
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