Every time you open a website or watch a video, the information takes a trip. It starts in a big building far away and ends in your hand. These three pictures follow that trip.

From the Data Center to Your Home
From the Data Center to Your HomeA path from a data center, along backbone fiber, through an exchange point and an internet provider, then over the last mile by tower or fiber to a home.FROM THE DATA CENTER TO YOUR HOMEDATA CENTERto other citiesIXPISPData centerBackboneMeeting pointYour ISPLast mileYour home123456
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  1. 1Data center. Websites, videos, and apps live on powerful computers called servers. Thousands of servers sit together in large buildings called data centers.
  2. 2Backbone. Very large fiber optic cables carry internet traffic between cities, across the country, and even under the ocean. Together they are called the internet backbone.
  3. 3Meeting point. Networks meet at places called Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) to trade traffic. That is why people call the internet a network of networks: no single company owns it all.
  4. 4Your ISP. Your internet service provider (ISP) connects to the backbone and carries traffic to your area over "middle mile" lines.
  5. 5Last mile. The last mile is the final link to each home or business. It can be a fiber cable in the ground or a radio signal from a tower. In rural and tribal areas it is often the hardest and most expensive part to build, because homes are far apart.
  6. 6Your home. At home, a modem or radio receiver brings the connection inside, and a router shares it with your phone, laptop, and TV over Wi-Fi, the short-range wireless signal inside your home.
Data Travels in Packets
Data Travels in PacketsA photo is cut into four labeled envelopes that travel through a web of routers by different roads and are put back together on a laptop.DATA TRAVELS IN PACKETSYour photo1 of 42 of 43 of 44 of 4To: 203.0.113.25Routers31Put back together1234
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  1. 1Break it up. A photo, video, or message is too big to send in one piece. Your device cuts it into many small pieces called packets.
  2. 2Label every piece. Each packet gets a label, like an envelope. The label says where it is going, where it came from, and which piece it is, such as "2 of 4."
  3. 3Routers pick the road. Routers are like post offices at every crossroads. They read each label and send the packet down the best open road. Pieces of the same photo can take different roads.
  4. 4Put it back together. The receiving device puts the packets back in order and asks again for any that went missing. All of this usually happens in a fraction of a second.
Four Ways to Connect a Home
Four Ways to Connect a HomeFour homes side by side: one connected by fiber in the ground, one by a radio signal from a tower, one by wires on a pole, and one by a satellite dish. A sign shows the 100/20 broadband speed.FOUR WAYS TO CONNECT A HOMELight in glassRadio signalExisting wiresFrom spaceFiberFixed wirelessCable or DSLSatelliteBROADBAND100 / 2012345
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  1. 1Fiber. Fiber sends pulses of light through thin strands of glass. It is the fastest and most reliable option, and it lasts for decades, but laying cable to every far-apart home costs a lot.
  2. 2Fixed wireless. A radio on a tower sends the internet through the air to a small receiver on your home, much like a radio station, except the signal goes both ways. It can reach spread-out rural homes faster and at lower cost than digging a trench to each one. This is how Red Mountain Networks serves Fort McDermitt.
  3. 3Cable or DSL. Cable internet uses TV cable lines, and DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) uses old telephone lines. Both reuse wires already in place, so they are only an option where those lines exist.
  4. 4Satellite. A dish on your home talks to a satellite in space. It can reach almost anywhere. Newer low-orbit satellites are much quicker than older ones that sit far above the Earth, but weather and trees can still get in the way.
  5. 5What counts as broadband. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the U.S. agency that oversees communications, counts a connection as broadband when it gives at least 100 megabits per second (Mbps) down and 20 Mbps up. Download is how fast you receive things, like a video. Upload is how fast you send things, like a video call.

Remember

The internet is a network of networks

2 of 4

Data travels in small labeled packets

The last mile is the hardest part to build

Try it

1. What is a packet?

2. Which part is often hardest to build in rural areas?

Learn more

References

  1. Benton Institute for Broadband & Society. (2024, March 14). Federal Communications Commission increases broadband speed benchmark. https://www.benton.org/headlines/federal-communications-commission-increases-broadband-speed-benchmark
  2. Cloudflare. (n.d.). How does the Internet work? Cloudflare Learning Center. https://www.cloudflare.com/learning/network-layer/how-does-the-internet-work/
  3. Code.org. (n.d.). How the Internet works [Video series]. https://code.org/videos

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