Internet Connectivity:
The Internet
is not one thing: many computers and links make up the Internet. In
an abstract sense, there is no one "internet", you cannot
download "the Internet" for example.
You connect to the Internet via an ISP, or Internet Service Provider.
You are the client, your ISP is the server, as far as you are concerned.
Your ISP, in turn, connects to one or several top-level bandwidth providers.
There is no "centralized" Internet; however, there are several
companies through which most of the world's Internet traffic travel.
These include companies such as AT&T, Quest, WorldCom/UUnet, etc.
Your information is broken up into small messages, called packets, and
sent from your computer through your phone line or connection to your
ISP. These packets are routed, the same way phone calls are, through
a series of connections to the destination ISP.
