Raw Internet

[Paladin9]

So like, where does the internet come from? Many people have asked who owns the internet, and my question is similar to that. So, if a home user or buisness gets there internet connection from an ISP, where does the ISP get that conection from? Is there some internet god that gives them a raw internet connection? Could I get a raw internet connection that is only limited in speed by the speed of other servers internet connections? does anyone else ever wonder this???

[Fett101]

The internet is not a thing. It is just a big ass network of computers.

Heck http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet-infrastructure.htm

[KernelPanic]

quote:Originally posted by Fett101:
The internet is not a thing. It is just a big ass network of computers.

Heck http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet-infrastructure.htm

I think he know that one, but wants to know how connections are filtered down from backbone providers to homes etc.
I'm not sure exactly, like who rents the trasatlantic fibre obtic cables for example?

[preacher]

Im guessing that the large telecommunications companies own the greatest portion of the internet's "backbone". After all networking is an extension of telephony, which has been around for a very long time.

[Fett101]

It says a bit about that.
 

quote:Most large communications companies have their own dedicated backbones connecting various regions (see, for example, a PDF of this map). In each region, the company has a Point of Presence (POP). The POP is a place for local users to access the company's network, often through a local phone number or dedicated line. The amazing thing here is that there is no overall controlling network. Instead, there are several high-level networks connecting to each other through Network Access Points or NAPs.


When you connect to the Internet, your computer becomes part of a network.

Here's an example. Imagine that Company A is a large ISP. In each major city, Company A has a POP. The POP in each city is a rack full of modems that the ISP's customers dial into. Company A leases fiber optic lines from the phone company to connect the POPs together (see, for example, this map -- this is the map of a large ISP called UUNET).

Imagine that Company B is a corporate ISP. Company B builds large buildings in major cities and corporations locate their Internet server machines in these buildings. Company B is such a large company that it runs its own fiber optic lines between its buildings so that they are all interconnected.

In this arrangement, all of Company A's customers can talk to each other, and all of Company B's customers can talk to each other, but there is no way for Company A's customers and Company B's customers to intercommunicate. Therefore, Company A and Company B both agree to connect to NAPs in various cities, and traffic between the two companies flows between the networks at the NAPs.

In the real Internet, dozens of large Internet providers interconnect at NAPs in various cities, and trillions of bytes of data flow between the individual networks at these points. The Internet is a collection of huge corporate networks that agree to all intercommunicate with each other at the NAPs. In this way, every computer on the Internet connects to every other.  

[restin256]

The ISPs are connected to eachother, and every computer on the internet has some direct or indirect connection to them.

[worker201]

The original network was built over AT&T cables - for some reason, AT&T didn't get the whole concept and rented the lines to ARPA for pennies on the dollar.  Originally, there were like 5 computers, at MIT, BBN, Stanford, and a couple other places.  As the benefits of file sharing grew, other universities and tech companies were added to the system.  Back then, there was a special computer that sat in front of the mainframe that could translate incoming and outgoing network packets, and you couldn't connect to the net without one.  Thanks to the brilliant work of Cisco and Xerox PARC (inventers of routers and ethernet, respectively), it became simple to add all kinds of computers to the network in the 80s.

So alot of work goes into sending a "whatup" message on ICQ - it might travel around the country to get to the next cubicle!

Basic history of the internet - don't use this in a research paper.  Instead, read "Nerds 2.0.1" for an easy to read non-tech history, with pictures and anecdotes.

[M51DPS]

quote:Originally posted by worker201:
Basic history of the internet - don't use this in a research paper.  Instead, read "Nerds 2.0.1" for an easy to read non-tech history, with pictures and anecdotes.

I read most of that book a while ago, some fascinating stuff.

[Paladin9]

Where do internet domain names come from?  how do the people who sell them get em?

[Ron]

Tim Berner is to blame for it all. Check out the W3C consortium. And domains are like caravans - you buy it, take it wherever you want, park and connect up. And while you're out, some thieving bastard sneaks in, steals it and has it up for sale on eBay by lunchtime. And did you know that until Dubya bombed fuck out of it, Iraq had one of the most advanced fibre-optic - based comms networks in the world? Still, now it'll get rebuilt in true American style - slow, buggy, bloated, full of crap, expensive, intrusive, and unable to process several instructions at once (Ever seen Dubya chew gum and walk at the same time?)

[restin256]

quote:Originally posted by Paladin9 Blackboard Sky:
Where do internet domain names come from?  how do the people who sell them get em?

Magic.

Or DNS servers rather, I think those are by the ISP, that convert the domain name to an IP number. Not sure, someone 'll have to clarify it, as so far my post has been useless.