What exactly is the Internet?

The Internet is simply a series of computer networks linked to one another around the world, communicating almost instantaneously with one another. (A single network of computers might be all the computers linked to one another within an office or school building. A larger network might be all the computers connected within an entire school district.) The Internet is many tens of thousands of these networks communicating with one another, like a big net or web! University networks connected to government networks connected to business networks connected to private networks - this is the Internet! These computer networks are physically linked to one another with telephone, radio, cable lines or via satellite. Networks from other continents are interconnected by the large, intercontinental telephone and fiber optic communication lines that run beneath the ocean floor.

Nobody knows for sure how big the Internet is, or how many networks are actually linked, but it is estimated that there are approximately thirty to thirty-eight million people that are on-line, with sites on every continent, including Antarctica! New user sites are continually being added. In fact, the Internet has grown at an exponential rate since its beginning. It is the largest network of computers in the world and is growing at about ten percent each month. At the current rate of growth, in just ten months from today, half of the users on the Internet would be using the Internet for their very first time.