Basics: How Does the Internet Work?

You may have noticed that we live in the age of the internet. Each year more and more people use it, more things are connected to it, and more is available to do on it. Many companies have made fortunes by being exclusively on the internet. It is a wonderful tool for connection, collaboration and education.

Since the internet has become mainstream, there has been an increase in the number of people who use the internet daily but have no idea how it works. It is comparable to cars today. Most of the population has a car, but only a small percentage actually knows what makes it work.

So how it is that the internet works?

At its very core, the internet is just a series of computers connected to each other. Phones, tablets, PC's, game consoles and servers are basically all different forms of a computer. The "internet" is the term that we use to describe the network that connects all these computers together. That network is a series of wires and wireless connections stretched across the world that goes to the physical location of each computer. The companies that maintain those wires and wireless connections are called internet service providers, or ISPs.

There are millions of computers that are connected to this network. So, how it is that the information that is being transmitted knows where to go? The best way to think about this is to equate the internet to the U.S. Postal service. Every house in the United States has an address. This address tells the post office where to send mail so that it will arrive at your front door. You can even have mail sent to other countries, just by using the correct address. In the same way, every device that connects to the internet has an address. It is called an IP address. This address is a series of numbers that tells a computer where to send information.

This series of addresses is what makes going to a website possible. When you type a website domain name into your browser, like www.google.com for example, you are actually telling the web browser to connect to a specific IP address on the internet. Internet service providers maintain a database server of domain names, known as website addresses or URLs, called a domain name server or DNS. This database connects each domain to a specific IP address. For example, that database knows that the domain www.google.com is connected to the IP address 8.8.8.8. So when you type www.google.com into your web browser, the browser looks at the database of domains to see which IP address to connect to. This is a pretty cool system which allows us to use the internet without having to memorize a big list of numbers!

Once your web browser is connected to the server at the IP address, it is given a series of files that it is able to show on your computer screen. This is the website that you see on your computer.

This is a basic understanding of how the internet works. Just like a car, it is important to have general knowledge about how the internet operates so you are disappointed by unrealistic expectations. This also means that the internet is way more complicated than what I just described, but that level of understanding is only needed by those who maintain the system.

Have you tried to explain how the internet works to someone you know? Has someone tried to explain it to you? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Key Terms to Remember:

Internet Service Provider (ISP) - A company that maintains physical internet connections and networks, and provides access to the internet to customers through those connections.

IP Address (internet protocol address) - A series of numbers that identifies individual computers on the internet

Domain Name (website address, URL) - A name owned by a person or company that makes it easier to find websites on the internet, instead of using an IP Address

URL (uniform resource locator) - another name for a domain name. It specifically identifies the protocol name used by a domain name server

Domain Name Server (DNS) - A server that translates domain names into IP addresses