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(If you see a word you dont understand, try clicking on it to go to our glossary page for an explanation.)

How Does the Internet Work?

The internet uses a protocol called TCP/IP.

The TCP/IP Protocol is made out of a couple of different protocols for different purposes, the two main ones are TCP, the Transmission Control Protocol, and the IP, the Internet Protocol.

TCP/IP works by breaking information into pieces called packets, and routing (using routers) them by IP numbers to the right place.

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First, the TCP Protocol brakes the information into many packets. Every packet contains a part of the entire pack of information. Then the IP Protocol comes to work, directing each packet into routers which direct to other routers that will eventually end up delivering that packet to the right place by the IP address. All the packets take different routes, therefor, go through different routers, and by that, making it faster so that not all the data would go through one route at once and create delays. The minus in this system, in sending E-Mail for example, is that if one small packet gets delayed, all the other packets have to wait until that packet can arrive and the all the packets will be assembled back together to the whole piece of information.

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