How does Internet work ?

In Internet, most computers are not connected directly to the Internet. Rather they are connected to smaller networks, which in turn are connected through gateways to the Internet backbone.

Internet functions in the following manner:

1. At the source computer, the message or the file/document to be sent to another computer is firstly divided into very small parts called packets.
2. Each packet is given a number serial wise e.g., 1, 2, 3.
3. All these packets are then sent to the address of destination computer.
4. The destination computer receives the packets in random manner. If a packet is garbled or lost, it is demanded again.
5. The packets are reassembled in the order of their number and the original message/file/document is obtained.

Every computer connected to the internet uses communication protocols — Transmission Control Protocol(TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP).