Hello. Most likely my question is stupid, but still I would like to be explained how the computers are connected in the worldwide network?

Well, in my PC, a cable is inserted that leads to the provider. So, what is next? Where does he go next? If all computers are connected by cable, then how are the continents connected? Satellites?

After reading Wikipedia, I learned that the first computers that had created the "network" (they were the transmission method of information for the US military) were connected by cable , without any providers. Why are they needed then? And how to understand the term скорость Интернет-соединения , on which it depends in those. plan? Or is it all about the money?

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    Continents are also wired habrahabr.ru/post/228415 - iksuy
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    @Levelleor Well, CSN has nothing to do with it. It's just a name translation service for IP addresses. And the link is not quite in cash. - Mike
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    te-st.ru/2014/06/24/15-maps-explain-internet is much better described here And not from the point of view of the WWW - Mike
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    Internet providers are companies that build networks and connect their networks with other providers. The combination of all providers and their networks is the Internet. Speed ​​- yes, in general, it rests on money. Building intercontinental channels and launching satellites cost big money, plus mountains of equipment and electricity. To increase the speed, new technologies are being developed, but in the end, all the same, everything depends on the cable capacity and new cables have to be put - Mike
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    And ground (underwater) channels are not stupid at all. Information passes much faster. Satellites hang at an altitude of ~ 35000 km. The length of the equator is 40000km. The signal for transmission via satellite should rise and descend again, i.e. pass 70 thousand km. which is clearly more than a cable that goes around the whole earth and comes back. And the speed of signal propagation is the same in cable and in air / vacuum. And in the otic cable interference is much less than in the air. - Mike

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In fact, everything is simple - if you abstract from the radio signal fiber and so on, all the computers that are connected to the Internet have a connection between them - there are computers one in the US, the other is at home and both are connected to the Internet, you can imagine that they are connected with a long cable (this for simplicity).

How do network devices see each other ?! Each computer on the network must have an ip address, while the network should not have the same address, otherwise the other participants in the network will not know who to contact and a conflict will occur.

What does it look like ?! Ip address is 192.168.1.1 for example (ip version 4), - the maximum value of addresses is 255.255.255.254, the minimum is 0.0.0.1 - I will not go into the subtleties of counting, but if you count all the available ip addresses, it turns out that there are about 16 million unique ip addresses if I am not mistaken.

Hence the problem that the devices (smart phone computers, tablets, etc.) on the global network are clearly more than 16 million.

How then does it all work ?! There are the first 16 million computers connected to each other in one local network, we will ship this network L1, there are another 16 million computers connected to each other (L2). How to combine these two networks in networks L1 and L2 should have at least one computer with 2 network cards connected to each other, respectively, these network cards can have their ip addresses since these two computers form the network L3 (although there are only two computers ). And if everything is properly configured - that is, there is a routing computer from the L1 network can transfer data to computers in the L2 network through the L3 network, and it will turn out that 32 million computers are connected to the network. But computers with 2 network cards can be much more than one, and each network needs to be routed and so on ...

Actually, the provider takes money for what - there is a range of ip addresses allocated to each country from the first 16 million, then federal providers scale the network to smaller providers that scale to sit down to users, and so one way or another everything is connected by wire, and the provider takes money in fact not for Internet and for servicing these wires, laying new repair of old + server equipment that routes this whole farm, switches and much more + costs for electricity and staff salaries that all this ate maintained in operable condition.

Why is the cost different for internet speed ?! everything is simple - the cable capacity is limited physically - that is, a gigabit cable will not miss more than this gigabit and everyone here has a lot of cable users - respectively, this cable has to be shared between users, and the one who has paid more has less to share with others =)

All of the above is written very conditionally, on the fingers, for schoolchildren, but the main thing seems to me the principle of work immediately becomes clear.

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    I will comment on myself =)) I read the question again, in my answer I did not say how the continents, the providers, etc., are connected to each other. The continents are interconnected by thick fiber optic cables across the seabed and ocean floors. And the principle of satellite communication - the satellite gives only answers to requests that would send the satellite this very request. You need equipment that only those who have these satellites launch and own, that is, you must have a connection with the provider who is in charge of the satellite, even by telephone line or by other means. - Konstantin
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    Better transfer your comment to the text of the answer. meta.ru.stackoverflow.com/questions/189/… - Mike
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    And before that, go to Google and type in the query "two-way satellite Internet", I myself was surprised now, I thought two-way sets of equipment are much more expensive, they have become much cheaper in recent years. So your “satellite gives only answers” ​​is absolutely incorrect, equipment for two-way communication request-response via satellite is available and even available for money - Mike
  • Thanks for the answer! And I thought that the connection is arranged more interesting than just the connection of cables) - Arthur Klochko
  • @ArturKlochko actually it is very difficult. In global networks, the principles described above begin to work too slowly and various interesting technologies start to be applied - mpls, vlan, and so on. But in general, the network works that way. - Hills of Eternity