How does the Internet work?

Explaining the Internet

Connecting computers worldwide

The Internet is everywhere nowadays. It seems that virtually every electronic device is connected to the net in some way, and it's easy to just accept without questioning that clicking on a link brings up a new page of information - but if you want to understand a bit about how that actually happens, then this article will give you some insight into how the Internet really works.

The Internet is a system connecting together a vast number of computers and other electronic devices, in such a way that messages can be sent between any two connected devices. How those messages are passed from one location to another varies - perhaps using radio waves in a home wi-fi connection, or copper cables, or glass fibres, or microwaves, or cellphone signals - the Internet does not force any particular type of  link. As long as there is some way to get a message from one computer to another then the Internet will work with it.