dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

^^^^ This guy gets it.

Where is the internet?

The internet has three basic parts:

The last mile is the part of the internet that connects homes and small businesses to the internet. Currently, about 60 percent of residential internet connections in the United States are provided by cable TV companies such as Comcast and Time Warner. Of the remaining 40 percent, a growing fraction use new fiber optic cables, most of which are part of Verizon’s FiOS program or AT&T’s U-Verse. Finally, a significant but shrinking number use outdated DSL service provided over telephone cables.The last mile also includes the towers that allow people to access the internet with their cell phones. Wireless internet service accounts for a large and growing share of all internet usage.

Data centers are rooms full of servers that store user data and host online apps and content. Some are owned by large companies such as Google and Facebook. Others are commercial facilities that provide service to many smaller websites. Data centers have very fast internet connections, allowing them to serve many users simultaneously. Data centers can be located anywhere in the world, but they are often located in remote areas where land and electricity are cheap. For example, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft have all constructed vast data centers in Iowa.

The backbone consists of long-distance networks — mostly on fiber optic cables — that carry data between data centers and consumers. The backbone market is highly competitive. Backbone providers frequently connect their networks together at internet exchange points, usually located in major cities. Establishing a presence at IEPs makes it much easier for backbone providers to improve their connections to others.

https://www.vox.com/2014/6/16/18076282/the-internet