Ali is sitting in his house, relaxing and having fun; like any other person these days, he is also busy doomscrolling. The content continues to pour in: funny, informative, horror, etc. The content seems to be infinite, but suddenly his WIFI gets disconnected; this is one of the greatest inconveniences for him.
He gets angry and calls his ISP, but they do not pick up. You search the news and find out that due to pouring rain, your entire block's WIFI line has been disrupted; for the next 12 hours, there is no sign of the internet coming back. Your day is practically ruined, but you start thinking about how it all works. This is what we are going to learn today.
The hidden network of cables on the ocean floor
People believe that most of the internet reaches them through some satellites orbiting the Earth 24/7. That is not true; almost 99% of the transoceanic data is transferred underwater on the ocean floor. Trust me, I was just as amazed as you are when I first learnt this.
These cables are not normal; they are called fiber optic cables. The cables are as thin and fine as our hair and are made of glass; they use the principle of Total Internal Reflection and transfer internet in the form of beams constantly being reflected forward. This cable is wrapped in layers of petroleum jelly and copper; a fully operational cable is as thick as a firehose to absorb the shock of shark bites, ship anchors, and the constant pressure of water.
Also Read: How Routers Know Where to Send Your Data
The highway of the Internet
A joint project called the MAREA cable by Microsoft, Meta, and Telxius is laid from Virginia, USA, to Spain. This cable stretches 4000 miles of the vast Atlantic Ocean and can transmit 200 terabits of data per second. You can think of it as a huge highway, but instead of cars, it transmits data. Again, it uses the same concept as explained above; the data is transmitted in the form of light in those fiber optic cables.
What happens when the data reaches land?
When the data reaches land, it does not just come to you automatically; there are landing stations for this data. These are called Autonomous Systems. Internet is a combination of 70 thousand Autonomous Systems; these are independent networks.
Major Universities, Tech Giants like Google, and Internet providers like Comcast have their own Autonomous Systems.
How do these different autonomous systems talk with each other?
These Autonomous Systems are physically connected to huge, highly secure buildings that are called IXPs (Internet Exchange Points). These Exchange Points then let the Autonomous Systems exchange data.
Suppose Comcast needs data from Netflix, so it simply exchanges it from a local IXP like DE-CIX in Frankfurt, Germany, or LINX in London. The process of swapping data between two Autonomous Systems is called peering; this exchange occurs at an IXP as explained above.
The GPS of Data
As everyone is aware, every device on the internet is given its highly specific and unique address. This address is that device's identity on the internet. This address is called an IP address. IP is the acronym for Internet Protocol.
So, whenever you want to open a webpage, upload an image, a video, etc, it is broken into tiny packets; each packet contains a header containing your IP address and the IP address of the destination for this data.
Also Read: Operating System Explained from the Ground Up
The border control of the internet
BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) strictly controls the data being transmitted on the internet. The packets with your IP address and your destination's IP address then go through your ISP's BGP routers.
This then decides the best route to transfer this data, if there is a cable broken in your path, BGP re-routes it to the next fastest location until it reaches the IXP and then is transmitted to the destination AS. BGP does not read your packets; think of it like a GPS. It looks at your address and your destination's address and provides you with the best path.
It's almost here!
Now the data is just arriving at your home; this is aided by FTTH, the modern transmission. FTTH stands for Fiber to the Home. You still get the internet at light speed right into your living room, but at street level the data is at its slowest.
The data travels at light speed to a green box at the corner of your street, then it relies on the copper telephone lines or Coaxial cables for the last few hundred meters; this is as slow as it gets because copper degrades over time. DSL is the oldest way; as explained above, copper wires not only degrade, but they are also very susceptible to electrical interference.
Your data is here: the router's magic
The data is still physical; your router plays its part by converting that physical data into digital binary 1s and 0s that the computer is able to understand. Your router also assigns your devices, using the internet, their local IP addresses and broadcasts the internet in 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies in the form of radio waves through the air. This is how you get connected to the internet.
Also Read: How HTTP Powers Every Website You Visit
Conclusion
The data that started from the MAREA cable in the Atlantic ocean reaches you at your home, internet has been one of the greatest inventions, no let me rephrase, I like to believe internet will simply be our greatest invention. I also believe that no matter how much we progress, Internet will always remain there, it is the reason we can talk to people in the far corners of the world, the abundance of data is paving way for more inventions.
An invention that is helping invent other inventions is such a poetic thing. It connected us, it made us one. No matter if you live in the United States or are somewhere in the deserts of Sahara, as long as you have access to the internet, you are connected to them.
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