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The internet is a massive collection of routers which are distributed worldwide. This connection is in accordance to two major protocols – Transfer Control Protocol (TCP) as well as the Internet Protocol (IP). In addition to these two, there are other protocols like the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) and others which make the internet work.
What is a Protocol?
As mentioned earlier, the internet works on different protocols through which the routers communicate with each other. A protocol is basically a set of rules or a language through which two or more computers communicate with each other. In case of the internet, the routers and computers over the world communicate through the transfer control protocol as well as the internet protocol.
The transfer control protocol comes into effect when a source computer sends a piece of information to another computer, then the transfer control protocol checks if the destination computer has received all of the data and if not, it tells the source computer to resend the piece of data that was missing from the destination computer. The internet protocol (IP) works by specifying IP addresses to all of the computers on the internet and then routing information to the computer that was intended to receive the information.
What is a Packet of Data?
All of the information that is communicated through the internet is done in the form of messages. These messages are broken down to specific packets of data which are transferred separately through different channels from the source computer to the destination computer. The size of each packet is between 1000 to 3000 characters. The size of packets and how they’re transferred is decided by the Internet Protocol.
Where are these internet routers which are located all across the world?
The first routers originated in the 1960s by the american military. It was called the ARPANET which was the predecessor to the internet. It was intended to be used in catastrophic events as it would be a decentralized network of computers which could not be brought down from a single site. Today, there are a lot more routers than what was laid down by the ARPANET and these are owned by different Internet Service Providers (ISPs) around the world.
As the different routers are owned by multiple ISPs of different countries, it cannot be said that there is a single owner of the internet. The internet is as decentralized as the telephone lines that are owned and controlled by different telephone operators. This makes the internet impossible to shut down by a single party.
What determines the speed of an Internet Connection?
The speed of an internet connection essentially implies the speed at which information moves from one computer to the next through the internet. The standard quantity of the speed of an internet connection is Megabits every second or Mbps. You can speed check
your connection by going to internet speed check websites which tell you your internet speed in the form of Megabits per second (Mbps) or Kilobits per second (Kbps).
The speed of an internet connection is dependent on multiple factors. Some of these factors are the internet traffic, the type of router as well as the internet bandwidth provided by your internet service provider. If there is a lot of traffic going through a router, the speed at which the packets are transferred is reduced due to the load on that specific router in the network of routers worldwide.
Your internet connection speed also depends on the type of internet router you are using to connect to the internet. Some routers are designed for lower traffic so the internet speed is capped to a certain limit on these routers. You should check internet speed of a router before purchasing one to make sure you have the internet speed you like.
