While we all work on the internet, do we understand the working of Internet? How is the information transferred from one computer to another? How do we access the websites which are remotely available on some other computer? Let us try to understand the working of the internet for beginners. We shall also try to understand a few internet jargon on the way.
What is Internet?
Internet is a network of networks. When n number of computers is connected together they form a network. When such networks connect together, they form a bigger network known as internet. These networks could be geographically dispersed. Network among the computers belonging to a state, a country or a continent interconnected to form a network across the globe, known as internet.
How does the internet work?
Internet works on the client server architecture. In this model the server is a single machine that serves multiple clients. What is a client? The computer through which the user accesses the website on a web browser is known as the client. What is a server? The computer on which the website is hosted is known as web server. What is a web browser? A web browser is application software which is used to access websites. For example: Google chrome, Safari, Mozilla Firefox, Internet explorer. 
When user enters the URL on the address bar of the web browser, the request is sent from the computer to the MODEM.
What is a MODEM?
Modulator/Demodulator MODEM is a device which is connected to the computer at one end and to a telephone line on the other end.  
Computer understands only digital signals where as telephone line works with analog signals. The data is sent as digital signal to the MODEM which converts it into analog signal. These analog signals are then transferred via telephone lines to the server of the Internet Service Provider (ISP). This is the company that is providing the internet connection at your home or office.
The request that originated at the client end is passed to the ISP. This ISP server looks for the requested website and passes on the request to the Server where this website is hosted. That web server in-turn responds with the relevant web page of the website to the client.
The web page in the form of analog signals passes through the telephone wire from web server to the MODEM. Where MODEM converts the analog signal to digital signal and passes to the client machine. And finally, the user is able to see the web page of the website requested for.
The transfer and conversion of data through signals happens at the fraction of seconds because of which we do not feel the time lapse during the process. This also depends on the internet speed at which the data is being transferred.
How does the data get transmitted to the intended user?
Every entity that exists in the real world has its address, which holds true for the virtual world as well. We are a part of the virtual world and are connected to it using some device. Every device that is connected to the internet has a unique address. This unique address is known as the IP address. It is a 32 bit number that is used to identify the sender and the receiver of packets of data over the internet.
Every client that is connected to the internet has a unique address. This address is used to identify a specific client to communicate and transfer data to and fro. This address is a combination of two different addresses-Physical and Virtual Addresses.
Physical Address = MAC Address
Virtual Address = IP Address
Physical or the MAC address is the unique identifier of a device. It is inscribed on to the device at the time of manufacturing. Be it a Laptop, Mobile Phone, Tablet, Desktop, every device has its own unique MAC Address.
Virtual or the IP Address is the Internet Protocol Address. This is the address given by the ISP to the client. The IP Address is generally dynamic i.e. it will change every time there is a new connection established through ISP. Static IP address is allocated to specific customers, generally with a business connection.
Every website that resides on the internet has its own IP address. This IP address essentially relates to the server machine on which it is hosted. A website’s IP Address can either be shared or a dedicated IP Address, depending on the type of hosting. A dedicated hosting is where a single website is hosted on a server where as in shared hosting more than one website is hosted on the same server machine. In shared hosting, multiple websites utilize the resources of a single server.
Whenever we write the address of the website, also known as its URL, in the address bar it gets converted into the IP address of the server where the website resides. It is this IP address which is searched for on the internet. And the website that resides on this address is returned to the host as a response to its request. This is easy to understand in the case of dedicated IP Address, where only one website resides at a specific address.
In the case of shared IP address, the website URL is fetched along with the IP address from the request. The combination of the website name and the IP address is used to fetch the desired website and return as a response to the client.
Thus, data is transferred from one user to another by the identification on the basis of IP Address and MAC Address. This is the working of the internet for a beginner to understand, without getting too deep into the entire flow of transmission of data.
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