How the Internet Works

The internet gets its name because it is many private networks all interconnected to form one large and open network. Each computer connects to one of these networks and is assigned a unique internet protocol address (often referred to as an IP address). This address, just like the postal system, allows computers to find and communicate with each other.

In order for two computers to communicate a packet of information is built. A packet is quite similar to a regular letter. It has a destination address, a return address, and a message inside of it. The difference is that simply viewing a website may involve the exchange of thousands of these packets back and forth.

Once the computer builds a packet it gets sent out through your modem and routed to the proper destination via devices called routers. Routers are internet devices that function like post offices; they take messages in and determine where to ship them to next. A router will inspect the destination address and determine where the next best hop is to reach the destination. After 1 to 30 hops the message is delivered to the destination computer.

Once the destination receives the information it opens up the packet and reads the message you sent to it. If the message denotes a reply the whole process is repeated in reverse.