How the internet connects everyone
The internet is a giant postal service for tiny pieces of information. It doesn't send your message whole. It breaks it into small pieces, sends each piece separately, and puts them back together at the other end.
Imagine you wanted to mail a puzzle to a friend, but instead of sending the whole box, you mailed each puzzle piece in its own envelope. Your friend would receive dozens of envelopes and reassemble the puzzle once they all arrived. Strange as it sounds, this is close to how the internet actually works.
What is a network?
A network is just a group of computers connected together so they can share information. Your home Wi-Fi is a small network. The internet is the biggest network there is: millions of smaller networks, all connected to each other.
A device called a router sits between your home network and the internet, sending information back and forth between them.
How does information actually travel?
When you send a message or load a video, your device breaks that information into small pieces called packets. Each packet travels its own path across the network, sometimes through cables, sometimes through Wi-Fi, sometimes through cell towers.
Some of those cables are enormous. Long cables running along the ocean floor connect entire continents, carrying internet traffic between countries. Other connections are wireless: Wi-Fi uses radio waves to connect nearby devices without a cable, and mobile data connects your phone to cell towers when you're away from Wi-Fi.
Once all the packets for your message arrive at their destination, the receiving device puts them back together in the right order. This all happens in a fraction of a second, which is why it feels instant even though your message actually traveled as many separate little pieces.
With a parent or guardian, find out how your home connects to the internet. Look at your router, the box with blinking lights that your home Wi-Fi comes from. Ask what company provides your internet connection, and whether it comes in through a cable, a phone line, or another way.
Why do some connections feel faster than others?
Bandwidth is how much information a connection can carry at once, similar to how many lanes are on a road. A connection with more bandwidth can move more packets at the same time, which usually feels faster, especially with several devices sharing one connection.
- Network
- A group of computers connected together so they can share information.
- Router
- A device that sends information between your home network and the internet.
- Wi-Fi
- A way for devices to connect to a network using radio waves instead of a cable.
- Bandwidth
- How much information a connection can carry at once, like how many lanes are on a road.
Does the internet send your whole message at once, or in pieces?
In pieces, called packets, which travel separately and are put back together at the other end.
What does a router do?
It sends information back and forth between your home network and the internet.
What carries internet traffic between continents?
Long cables running along the ocean floor.
- The internet is a huge network made of millions of smaller networks connected together.
- Information travels in small pieces called packets, which are reassembled when they arrive.
- Wi-Fi, mobile data and undersea cables are all different ways that information physically travels.