The Internet
By 1990 there were networks everywhere: NSFNET in the USA, research networks in Europe and Asia, company networks, college networks. Each worked on its own. The big step was joining them all into one.
1A network of networks
The name says it: inter means “between”, so the Internet is what runs between networks. Your home Wi-Fi is one small network. When it connects to the Internet, it becomes one of the millions of pieces.
Press Play and watch networks in every continent join. Drag to turn the globe.
Places are shown where they really are. The lines are simplified: they show which places were connected, not the real cable routes.
2How it grew out of NSFNET
Every network that joined had to follow the same rules for sending data — TCP/IP, the rules ARPANET had adopted in 1983. Because everyone spoke the same language, a college network in Japan could exchange data with a company network in Brazil, even though they had never been designed together.
In 1995 NSFNET was retired. From then on, the long-distance lines were run by companies, and the Internet was open to businesses and to everyone at home.
3Who owns the Internet?
Nobody — and everybody. There is no single owner. Each piece is owned by whoever built it: your school owns its network, a phone company owns its cables and towers. Companies that sell you a connection to the Internet are called Internet Service Providers, or ISPs. BSNL, Jio and Airtel are ISPs in India.
Like India's railways and roads
4The Internet is not the same as the Web
People use the two words as if they mean the same thing. They don’t.
The network itself — the connections between millions of networks. It carries email, video calls, online games, UPI payments and web pages.
Just one of the things that travels over the Internet: web pages, linked to each other, opened in a browser. Created by Tim Berners-Lee at CERN and opened to the public in 1991.
The Web is like one service on the roads — say, the buses. The Internet is the roads. The Web gets a full lesson in Web Services.
5The Internet reaches India
ERNET (Education and Research Network) begins, linking India's research institutes and universities.
On 15 August, VSNL (Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited) opens internet access to the public in India.
India has one of the largest numbers of internet users of any country, most of them on mobile phones.
6Recap
A worldwide network of networks.
ARPANET (1969) and NSFNET (1986), joined with networks worldwide.
Every network follows TCP/IP, so all of them can talk.
The Web is one service on the Internet; the Internet is the network.
The Internet is best described as…
Which of these is true?
When did public internet access start in India?