Tutorials | What is the Internet?

What is the Internet?    

The Internet – also known as the Net – is the world’s largest computer network.  With networks, size counts for a lot, because the larger a network is, the more information it has to offer.  The Internet is often referred to as an 'ocean,' because of its enormity and power. Some people are said to 'surf,' 'ride,' or 'navigate' the net. It  is probably more accurate to say most people 'swim' through the Internet, until they understand navigating from one site to another.

The Internet is simply a series of computer networks linked to one another around the world, communicating almost instantaneously with one another. (A single network of computers, for example, might be all the computers linked to one another within an office or school building. A larger network might be all the computers connected within an entire school district.) The Internet is many tens of  thousands of these networks communicating with one another, like a big net or web! University networks connected to government networks connected to business networks  connected to private networks - this is the Internet! These computer networks are physically linked to one another with telephone, radio, and cable lines or via satellite. Networks from other continents are interconnected by the large, intercontinental telephone and fiber optic communication lines that run beneath the ocean floor.

Nobody knows for sure how big the Internet is, or how many networks are actually linked, but it is estimated that there are approximately thirty to thirty-eight million people that are online, with sites on every continent. New user sites are continually being added. In fact, the Internet has grown at an exponential rate since its beginning. It is the largest network of computers in the world and is growing at about ten percent each month.