Internet

The• Internet is the foremost important tool and the prominent resource that is being used by
almost every person across the globe. It connects millions of computers, webpages, websites,
and servers. Using the internet we can send emails, photos, videos, and messages to our loved
ones. Or in other words, the Internet is a widespread interconnected network of computers
and electronic devices (that support Internet). It creates a communication medium to share
and get information online. If your device is connected to the Internet then only you will be able
to access all the applications, websites, social media apps, and many more services. The Internet
nowadays is considered the fastest medium for sending and receiving information.

History of the Internet

The Internet came in the year 1960 with the creation of the first working model
called ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency). It allowed multiple computers to work
on a single network which was their biggest achievement at that time. ARPANET uses packet
switching to communicate multiple computer systems under a single network. In October 1969,
using ARPANET first message was transferred from one computer to another. After that
technology continues to grow.

How is the Internet Set Up?

The internet is set up with the help of physical optical fiber data transmission cables or copper
wires and various other networking mediums like LAN, WAN, MAN, etc. For accessing the
Internet even the 2G, 3G, and 4G services and the Wifi require these physical cable setups to
access the Internet. There is an authority named ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned
Names and Numbers) located in the USA which manages the Internet and protocols related to
it like IP addresses.

ISP (internet service provider)

What is an ISP?
An ISP (internet service provider) is a company that provides individuals and
organizations access to the internet and other related services. An ISP has the
equipment and the telecommunication line access required to have a point of
presence on the internet for the geographic area served.

ISPs make it possible for customers to access the internet while also providing additional
services such as email, domain registration and web hosting. ISPs may also provide
different internet connection types, such as cable and fiber. Connections can also come
in the form of high-speed broadband or non-broadband. The Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) states that to be considered high-speed, a connection must have
download speeds of at least 25 megabits per second (Mbps) and upload speeds a
minimum of 3 Mbps.

An ISP is also sometimes referred to as an internet access provider. ISP is also

sometimes used as an abbreviation for independent service provider to distinguish a
service provider that is a separate company from a telephone company.

How do ISPs work?

ISPs are connected to one or more high-speed internet lines. Larger ISPs have their own
high-speed leased lines, so they are less dependent on telecommunications services
and can provide better service to their customers.

ISPs also keep thousands of servers in data centers -- the number of servers depends
on their internet service area. These large data centers manage all customer traffic.
Multiple ISPs are also connected to large backbone routing centers.

ISPs are grouped into the following three tiers:

• Tier 1 ISPs. These ISPs have the most global reach and own enough physical
network lines to carry most traffic on their own. They also negotiate with other
tier 1 networks to allow free traffic to pass through to other tier 1 providers. Tier
1 ISPs typically sell network access to tier 2 ISPs.

• Tier 2 ISPs. These ISPs have regional or national reach and are service
providers that connect tier 1 and tier 3 ISPs. They have to purchase access to
larger tier 1 networks, but are peers with other tier 2 ISPs. Tier 2 networks focus
on consumer and commercial customers.

• Tier 3 ISPs. These ISPs connect customers to the internet using another ISP's
network. Tier 3 ISPs use and pay higher-tier ISPs for access to internet
services. They focus on providing internet access to local businesses and
consumer markets.

ISPs and the different types of services

ISPs provide the following internet services:

• Cable. This service uses coaxial cable -- the same type of cable that delivers
TV. Cable internet has low latency, which is good for users who need less delay
 or lag time. Cable has a download speed of 10 to 500 Mbps and an upload
speed of 5 to 50 Mbps.

• Fiber. Fiber internet uses fiber optic cable to transmit data to provide much
faster speeds compared with cable or digital subscriber line (DSL). Fiber has
download speeds of 250 to 1,000 Mbps and upload speeds of 250 to 1,000
Mbps. Fiber is good for online gamers and other heavy internet users.

• DSL. DSL connects users to the internet using a telephone line. It is widely
available, but is slowly being replaced by more reliable broadband connections
such as cable and fiber. DSL is slower and offers download speeds of 5 to 35
Mbps and upload speeds of 1 to 10 Mbps. It is a good option for users in rural
areas and those who mainly surf the web or stream TV on only one device.

• Satellite. Satellite internet access works through the use of

communication satellites. Ground stations relay internet data as radio waves to
and from satellites that are likely in low Earth orbit and to farther ground stations.
Satellite is slower, with download speeds of 12 to 100 Mbps and upload speeds
of 3 Mbps, but it is a good option for users in remote areas.

Most ISPs offer a combination of these services.

What are examples of ISPs?

According to independent research by BroadbandNow and data from the FCC, there are
more than 2,900 ISPs in the U.S. These ISPs offer a variety of services. The top five
ISPs by estimated population covered include HughesNet, Viasat Internet, AT&T
Wireless, Verizon and T-Mobile.

Tier 1 internet service providers (ISPs) in India include:

• Bharti,

• Reliance,

• Tata Telecommunication,

Tier 1 ISPs include the following U.S.-based companies:

• AT&T

• CenturyLink
 • Sprint

• Verizon

Tier 2 ISPs include the following companies:

• Comcast

• Cox Communications

• CTS Telecom

Tier 3 ISPs include smaller regional and local providers.

How to choose an ISP

Users should choose an ISP based on several factors, including the following:

• Coverage area. Which providers offer service to the user's region? If the user
lives in a rural area, there may be limited options.

• Types of services offered. In addition to cable, fiber, DSL or satellite, does the
ISP offer online security? Free email access? Hosting for websites? What about
mesh Wi-Fi? Be sure the ISP's offerings match the user's needs.

• Download and upload speeds. Will the user be gaming online or working from
home and using video teleconferencing? Both require different levels of service.
For example, at least 25 Mbps of bandwidth is needed to stream 4K video.

• Pricing. Does the ISP bundle services such as internet, phone and TV, and if
so, does combining services save money? Are there any data caps? What
about equipment costs? Is there a contract?

• Consumer satisfaction rating. Check unbiased sources for provider ratings.

Bandwidth requirements for various multimedia and

voice functions.
ISPs may throttle, or slow down, a user's internet speed in order to regulate traffic and
clear up network congestion. ISPs may also throttle a user's internet speed when the
user reaches a specific data limit. However, throttling violates the idea of net neutrality,
which is the prevailing thought that ISPs should give equal treatment to all
communications over the internet.
As an example, ISPs can choose to throttle specific websites that users visit simply
because they take up a lot of data. ISPs have, in the past, throttled their customers'
internet when connecting to Netflix -- meaning the user experience on Netflix's platform
is diminished due to the ISP.

How Does the Internet Work?

The actual working of the internet takes place with the help of clients and servers. Here the
client is a laptop that is directly connected to the internet and servers are the computers
connected indirectly to the Internet and they are having all the websites stored in those large
computers. These servers are connected to the internet with the help of ISP (Internet Service
Providers) and will be identified with the IP address.

Each website has its Domain name as it is difficult for any person to always remember
the long numbers or strings. So, whenever you search for any domain name in the search bar
of the browser the request will be sent to the server and that server will try to find the IP
address from the Domain name because it cannot understand the domain name. After getting
the IP address the server will try to search the IP address of the Domain name in a Huge phone
directory that in networking is known as a DNS server (Domain Name Server). For example, if
we have the name of a person and we can easily find the Aadhaar number of him/her from the
long directory as simple as that.
So after getting the IP address, the browser will pass on the further request to the respective
server and now the server will process the request to display the content of the website which
the client wants. If you are using a wireless medium of Internet like 3G and 4G or other mobile
data then the data will start flowing from the optical cables and will first reach towers from
there the signals will reach your cell phones and PCs through electromagnetic waves and if you
are using routers then optical fiber connecting to your router will help in connecting those light-
induced signals to electrical signals and with the help of ethernet cables internet reaches your
computers and hence the required information.

What is an IP Address?
IP Address stands for Internet Protocol Address. Every PC/Local machine is having an IP
address and that IP address is provided by the Internet Service Providers (ISPs). These are some
sets of rules which govern the flow of data whenever a device is connected to the Internet. It
differentiates computers, websites, and routers. Just like human identification cards like
Aadhaar cards, Pan cards, or any other unique identification documents. Every laptop and
desktop has its own unique IP address for identification. It’s an important part of Internet
technology. An IP address is displayed as a set of four-digit like 192.154.3.29. Here each number
on the set ranges from 0 to 255. Hence, the total IP address range from 0.0.0.0 to
255.255.255.255.
You can check the IP address of your Laptop or desktop by clicking on the Windows start menu
-> then right-click and go to network -> in that go to status and then Properties you can see the
IP address. There are four different types of IP addresses are available:
1. Static IP Address
2. Dynamic IP Address
3. Private IP Address
 4. Public IP Address

World Wide Web (WWW)

The world wide web is a collection of all the web pages, and web documents that you can see
on the Internet by searching their URLs (Uniform Resource Locator) on the Internet. For
example, www.gehu.ac.in is the URL of the Graphic Era Hill University’s website, and all the
content of this site like webpages and all the web documents are stored on the world wide Web.
Or in other words, the world wide web is an information retrieval service of the web. It provides
users with a huge array of documents that are connected to each other by means of hypertext
or hypermedia links. Here, hyperlinks are known as electronic connections that link the related
data so that users can easily access the related information hypertext allows the user to pick a
word or phrase from text, and using this keyword or word or phrase can access other
documents that contain additional information related to that word or keyword or phrase.
World wide web is a project which is created by Timothy Berner’s Lee in 1989, for researchers
to work together effectively at CERN. It is an organization, named World Wide Web
Consortium (W3C), which was developed for further development in the web.

Difference Between World Wide Web and the Internet

The main difference between the World Wide Web and the Internet are:

World Wide Web Internet

All the web pages and web documents

are stored there on the World wide web The Internet is a global network of computers that is
and to find all that stuff you will have a accessed by the World wide web.
specific URL for each website.

The world wide web is a service. The Internet is an infrastructure.

The world wide web is a subset of the

The Internet is the superset of the world wide web.
Internet.

The world wide web is software-

The Internet is hardware-oriented.
oriented.

The world wide web uses HTTP. The Internet uses IP Addresses.

The world wide web can be considered

as a book from the different topics inside The Internet can be considered a Library.
a Library.
Uses of the Internet
Some of the important usages of the internet are:
• Online Businesses (E-commerce): Online shopping websites have made our life
easier, e-commerce sites like Amazon, Flipkart, and Myntra are providing very
spectacular services with just one click and this is a great use of the Internet.

• Cashless Transactions: All the merchandising companies are offering services to

their customers to pay the bills of the products online via various digital payment
apps like Paytm, Google Pay, etc. UPI payment gateway is also increasing day by day.
Digital payment industries are growing at a rate of 50% every year too because of the
INTERNET.

• Education: It is the internet facility that provides a whole bunch of educational

material to everyone through any server across the web. Those who are unable to
attend physical classes can choose any course from the internet and can have point-
to-point knowledge of it just by sitting at home. High-class faculties are teaching
online on digital platforms and providing quality education to students with the help
of the Internet.
• Social Networking: The purpose of social networking sites and apps is to connect
people all over the world. With the help of social networking sites, we can talk, and
share videos, and images with our loved ones when they are far away from us. Also,
we can create groups for discussion or for meetings.

• Entertainment: The Internet is also used for entertainment. There are numerous
entertainment options available on the internet like watching movies, playing games,
listening to music, etc. You can also download movies, games, songs, TV Serial, etc.,
easily from the internet.

Security and the Internet

Very huge amount of data is managed across the Internet almost the time, which leads to the
risk of data breaching and many other security issues. Both Hackers and Crackers can lead to
disrupting the network and can steal important information like Login Credentials, Banking
Credentials, etc.

Steps to Protect the Online Privacy

• Install Antivirus or Antimalware.

• Create random and difficult passwords, so that it becomes difficult to guess.
• Use a private browsing window or VPN for using the Internet.
• Try to use HTTPS only for better protection.
• Try to make your Social Media Account Private.
• If you are not using any application, which requires GPS, then you can turn GPS off.
• Do not simply close the tab, first log out from that account, then close the tab.
• Try to avoid accessing public Wifi or hotspots.
• Try to avoid opening or downloading content from unknown sources.
There is an element of the Internet called the Dark Web, which is not accessible from standard
browsers. To keep safe our data, we can use Tor and I2P, which helps in keeping our data
anonymous, that helps in protecting user security, and helps in reducing cybercrime.

Social Impact of the Internet

The social impact of the Internet can be seen in both ways. Some say it has a positive impact as
it helps in gaining civic engagement, etc. whereas some say it has a negative impact as it
increased the risk of getting fooled by someone over the internet, getting withdrawal from
society, etc.
Whatever the impact of Social Media, one thing is that it changed the way of connecting and
interacting with others in society. The number of people increasing day by day on social media
platforms which helps in constructing new relationships over social media, new communities
are made on social media in the interest of the people. Social Media platforms like Facebook,
Instagram, LinkedIn, etc are the most used social media platform for both individual and
business purposes where we can communicate with them and perform our tasks.

Advantages of the Internet

• Online Banking and Transaction: The Internet allows us to transfer money online
through the net banking system. Money can be credited or debited from one account
to the other.
• Education, Online Jobs, Freelancing: Through the Internet, we are able to get
more jobs via online platforms like Linkedin and to reach more job providers.
Freelancing on the other hand has helped the youth to earn a side income and the best
part is all this can be done via the INTERNET.
• Entertainment: There are numerous options for entertainment online we can listen
to music, play games can watch movies, and web series, and listen to podcasts,
youtube itself is a hub of knowledge as well as entertainment.
• New Job Roles: The Internet has given us access to social media, and digital
products so we are having numerous new job opportunities like digital marketing and
social media marketing online businesses are earning huge amounts of money just
because the Internet is the medium to help us to do so.
• Best Communication Medium: The communication barrier has been removed
from the Internet. You can send messages via email, Whatsapp, and Facebook. Voice
chatting and video conferencing are also available to help you to do important
meetings online.
• Comfort to humans: Without putting any physical effort you can do so many things
like shopping online it can be anything from stationeries to clothes, books to personal
items, etc. You can books train and plane tickets online.
• GPS Tracking and google maps: Yet another advantage of the internet is that you
are able to find any road in any direction, and areas with less traffic with the help of
GPS on your mobile.
Disadvantages of the Internet

• Time Wastage: Wasting too much time on the internet surfing social media apps
and doing nothing decreases your productivity rather than wasting time on scrolling
social media apps one should utilize that time in doing something skillful and even
more productive.
• Bad Impacts on Health: Spending too much time on the internet causes bad
impacts on your health physical body needs some outdoor games exercise and many
more things. Looking at the screen for a longer duration causes serious impacts on
the eyes.
• Cyber Crimes: Cyberbullying, spam, viruses, hacking, and stealing data are some of
the crimes which are on the verge these days. Your system which contains all the
confidential data can be easily hacked by cybercriminals.
• Effects on Children: Small children are heavily addicted to the Internet watching
movies, and games all the time is not good for their overall personality as well as social
development.
• Bullying and Spreading Negativity: The Internet has given a free tool in the form
of social media apps to all those people who always try to spread negativity with very
revolting and shameful messages and try to bully each other which is wrong.