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Computer Networks · Class 12 · The Internet
networksthe internet⏱️ 6 min read

Applications of the InternetOptional for Computer Science

🎬 This chapter has a 12:13 video: Evolution of Networking →

The Internet is only wires, radio and routers. It does not, by itself, do anything you would notice. What you notice are the things people built on top of it — and the syllabus names four of them.

1The four applications

An application or service of the Internet is a use it is put to. Four are on your syllabus.

The web (WWW)
You ask a web server for a page and it sends the page back. The pages are joined by links, and you move between them in a browser. Reading ncert.nic.in is using the web.
Email
An electronic message sent to an address like riya@example.com. It travels to a mail server and waits there until the other person collects it. Files can be attached to it.
Chat
Short messages typed back and forth and delivered at once. Also called instant messaging. WhatsApp and Google Chat are chat applications.
VoIP
Voice over Internet Protocol — a voice or video call carried over the Internet instead of the telephone network. Your voice is turned into packets and sent like any other data.
What the Internet is used for

Pick one and press send. Watch where the data stops on the way — that is what makes the four different.

You
🙋
📄
The Internet
🙋
📄
Web server
The web

You ask a web server for a page and it sends the page back.

Carries: Web pages: text, pictures, video
Both online at once? No — the server is always on, and waits for you.
Used through: Chrome, Firefox, Edge opening ncert.nic.in

2All four side by side

WebEmailChatVoIP
CarriesWeb pagesMessages + attachmentsShort messagesVoice and video
Both online together?NoNoUsuallyYes
Waits if you are away?—Yes, on the mail serverYes, brieflyNo — the call is missed
You use it throughA browserGmail, OutlookWhatsApp, Google ChatWhatsApp call, Meet

A letter and a phone call

Email is a letter: you post it, it sits in a letter box, and it is read whenever the other person gets to it. VoIP is a phone call: it only works if the other person picks up right now. Chat sits in between — a note passed across the classroom, read in seconds.
The Internet is not the web
The web is one of the four. Email, chat and VoIP use the Internet without using the web at all. That is exactly why the Internet and the WWW are different things.

3From the board papers

1
Riya, a Class 12 student, is new to the topic ‘Internet’. Help her understand it by mentioning any four applications or services of the Internet.CBSE board exam 2026 (compartment)
2 marks
▶Show the answer

The World Wide Web (browsing web pages), email (sending electronic messages), chat (instant messaging) and VoIP (voice and video calls over the Internet).

2
Which of the following Internet services is used for instant messaging? (A) Chat   (B) Email   (C) WWW   (D) PythonCBSE board exam 2024 (compartment)
1 mark
▶Show the answer

(A) Chat. Instant messaging is what chat means. Email waits to be collected, the WWW is pages, and Python is a programming language, not an Internet service.

3
Nisha is using an Android app to make a voice call over the Internet to her friend in another country. Which protocol is being used? (A) Chat   (B) VoIP   (C) Email   (D) TVCBSE board exam 2026
1 mark
▶Show the answer

(B) VoIP. A voice call carried over an Internet connection instead of the telephone network is VoIP.

4
Which of the following is an application of VoIP technology? (A) Email   (B) Chat   (C) Internet Telephony   (D) Web BrowsingCBSE sample paper 2025–26
1 mark
▶Show the answer

(C) Internet Telephony. Internet telephony is another name for making telephone calls over the Internet, which is what VoIP does.

VoIP gets a whole page of its own, with a call you can run on a good and a bad connection: VoIP.

4Check yourself

Quick Check

Priya sends an email at 11 pm. Arjun's phone is switched off until morning. What happens to the message?

Quick Check

Which application needs both people to be there at the same moment?

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