Unit 2: Understanding how the Internet works

How does the Internet work?

Internet is a collection of computers all over the world that are connected. One can use the Internet to communicate with people, read news, play games, do research, gather information, sell or purchase items and so on. A number of things are responsible to make this connection happen. These include the physical connections such as cables, wires, and devices like modems or network interface cards (a circuit board that is installed in a computer so that it can connect to a network), switches, routers, bridges etc. Additionally, there are a number of wired and wireless ways to connect to the Internet.

Unit Objectives

Upon completion of this unit, the participants will:

1. Understand how data is transferred over the Internet.
2. Understand how our computers process this data.

Lecture

Unit2_LectureNotes

Presentation Slides

Unit2_How does the Intenet work

Discussions

1. Assume you want to find an ISP for a home Internet connection. Assuming that you don’t want to tie up your phone line when you are online and you want to download multmedia files frequently. List two types of Internet services you could use.

• Classroom activity:

Find the names of three ISPs in your area. Create a table and list the following information:

1. Monthly fees
2. Type of Internet services provided
3. Any software included in the service
4. Any other information worth noting

Quiz

Unit 2-Quiz

Links

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