Fundamentals of the Internet

It wouldn’t be wrong to consider the internet the elixir of the modern world. It is a technology that has paved way for countless new modernization techniques in our society, and trends that wouldn’t have been possible without the internet. The internet has acted as a catalyst that has ushered mankind into a new age of technology. Fundamentals of the Internet-

Today we see that distances don’t matter. The transmission of huge amounts of data is done in seconds, and the whole world has shrunk into the palm of our hands, all this has been possible only because of the internet. The benefits of the internet will take many more articles like these and still, they wouldn’t be able to cover all the magnificent work this piece single piece of technology has done for humanity. But there are always two sides to a coin, and so is the case with the internet.

Along with so many positive aspects, there is a dark side to the internet as well. In a social context, the internet has made people addicted to it. So much so, that today’s generation is almost out of touch with reality and their surroundings, you will see people constantly stuck to their screens even while eating, with friends, and at family gatherings. This has made people detach from nature and the real world and has also affected their relationships with their families and friends.

Emotional aspects aside, the internet has also become a tool for criminal activity. We see that cybercrime is increasing day by day, people’s bank accounts are drained, there are attacks on the privacy and security of individuals and companies, private data is leaked and sold online, credit card and identity theft are also at peak because of the internet.

All in all, the internet can be considered a dual-edged sword whose power lies in the hand of the wielder. It can be used for great purposes as well as can bring total annihilation. Whether positive or negative all these things are happening because of the influence internet holds today. It has seamlessly integrated with all walks of life and has now become a deep-rooted part of our society.

This has happened due to two reasons, the first one is that the internet is now available to farfetched lands and to places where it wasn’t present before, the second reason is the cost. Today internet has become so cost-effective that anyone can use this service, and this is not only restricted to a basic connection. Today a high-speed internet connection is also quite affordable and in reach of many. For example, if you observe the prices of Suddenlink internet plans, you will see that they are quite economical even for 1 Gig-speed. 

Workings and Fundamentals of the Internet 

Even though the internet is such a powerful technology that has helped us accomplish so much, and holds a strong influence on today’s society. But have you ever wondered how it works? That’s the question we’ll try to answer today. Internet in a layman’s term is a network of networks. That is why it is also called a global network or worldwide web.

Internet is a collection of nodes and servers, where nodes can be considered as the devices to which the internet is supplied, like smartphones or computers. Similarly, a server is any machine that is sending data to a node in the shape of digital packets, a conventional server is a collection of huge supercomputers that are set up at your ISP’s end. But since the internet is a global connection a server can be classified as any device provided with the internet.

Internet is a global network in which every device preset on the web is practically connected to every other device on the web. Regardless of the distance between these devices, they are connected to each other. In a global connection, any device can act as a server or a node. For example, while taking a hotspot from your friend’s phone, his device becomes the server while your device becomes the node. Even though the concept of node and server is important to grasp but the fundamental workings of the internet lie in 3 major components. These are the components that we will discuss further.

Major Components of an Internet Connection- Fundamentals of the Internet

Now that we know about node and server, there are further 3 components that work in conjunction as the underlying aspects of communication between a node and a server. And the rest of the technicalities in an internet connection also revolve around these three things that we have explained below.

Speed- Fundamentals of the Internet

Speed is the core measuring unit of an internet connection. We see that internet service providers advertise different plans according to the speed, and also the price difference is dependent on the speed of the connection. Internet speed is the quantifying measure to determine how much data is transferred from one endpoint to another. Where the transmission from server to user’s end is called download speed, and the amount transmission from a user’s node to the server is called upload speed. It is measured in bits and there are different units like Mbps and Gbps which stands for megabit per second and gigabit per second respectively. 

Data- Fundamentals of the Internet

Data is also an important part of an internet connection. Some people may confuse speed and data but they are two entirely different things. Internet speed is measured in bits as explained above while data is measured in bytes which is a bigger unit of measurement. Data is referred to the amount of bytes users consume in a month. Usually, there is a limit of data that some service providers offer users to use every month and when this limit is exceeded either the speed is throttled or the user has to pay extra. 

Data is dependent on user’s activity like high quality streaming and downloading of large files consume more data than let’s just using social media or checking emails. Similarly, it should be noted that every time user performs any activity on the internet, the data is consumed no matter if they are watching the same video over and over again. Users should be mindful of their data limit when using the internet or they should go with a provider that offers unlimited data in order to avoid any inconvenience.

Transmission Medium

A transmission medium also plays a key role in the overall performance of an internet connection. The bandwidth and latency are dependent entirely on the transmission medium so users should be careful with which transmission medium they are going with for their internet. For example, a DSL or Satellite connection is not able to sustain high bandwidth thus these mediums provide low-speed options that typically range from 10 to 100Mbps. Plus they have high latency, especially satellite connections. That is why it is recommended that heavy-duty tasks like internet gaming and HD streaming shouldn’t be performed on such connections because users can face high lag and buffering.

In contrast to that, cable and fiber optic connections have high bandwidth and low latency because of which users are able to get a high download speed that ranges from 100Mbps to 1000Mbps or 1Gig. Plus fiber optics also have the ability to provide symmetrical download and upload speed. These types of connections are reliable and offer many other advantages like unlimited data and an overall enhanced connection type. That is why it is preferred to go with a cable or fiber internet.

Conclusion

The internet is a complex technology however, we have tried to explain its main components, their workings, and how they affect the user’s experience. We hope that this guide will help our readers to better understand how their internet connections work which will, in turn, equip them with enhanced knowledge to make a better choice when selecting an internet connection in the future.