Some days ago when I was researching how internet works, as part of my learning as a web developer, I came across this video . It is an extremely good video beautifully explaining through animations what is the intenet & how it actually works.
When we think about the internet we think it is in the air or in clouds in the form of waves. But as I learned, that is not the case.
Internet is mostly a complex network of optical fiber cable laid throughout the land mass of earth’s crust, both the oceanic crust i.e. ocean bed and continental crust, in the complex network fashion joining datacenters to datacenters. These cables are laid and maintained by giant telecommunications companies like AT&T, Google, Jio etc.
The main job is to get the data stored in the datacenter to the end user. It is accomplished by this complex network of cables. The data travels in the form of light impulses through these cables.
Majority of us access our internet through our mobile devices which are receiving signals through a cellular tower. These cellular tower are ultimately connected to these cables.
This is an oversimplified version of what the internet is but basically that is what it is.
It was good to learn what the internet actually is, as I am trying to make a career on it, but also as a general user of the internet. I highly recommend you checking out the video. I didn’t know internet was so physical than digital.