2.2 The Internet Component

Types of Connection

Wired Connection

Wired connection can be defined as which a user plug a network connection and hence a wired connection is established. While wireless connections is when the user is connected to internet without using any wired tools.

Some of the example of wired connection are cable internet services, digital subscriber line (DSL) and fiber to the premises (FTTP). Cable internet services provide an internet signal over the coaxial cable lines which run to the user’s home. Cable is a shared connections, which mean that the line that runs to the user’s home is a branch of a larger trunk which also run to the neighbor's homes. In this situation, the speed may be decreased because of the trunk is not big enough to support all the connected users. Furthermore, cable uses coaxial cables which are very heavily shielded, and the maximum transfer rate is slower than fiber optic cable.

Other example is digital subscriber line or DSL. DSL is a technology for bringing high-bandwidth information to homes over ordinary copper telephone lines. Telephone wires carry hundreds of thousands of frequencies. Only a few thousand are for telephone communications so the telephone and DSL modem can work at the same time. Lastly is the fiber to the premises or FTTP. FTTP is a pure fiber-optic cable connection running from an Internet Service Provider (ISP) directly to the user’s home or business. Fiber optic cables are made of one or more optical fibers, which are designed to carry light and the maximum transfer rate is faster compared to other cable.

Wireless Connection

As for the wireless connection, the examples include Wi-Fi or wireless fidelity, mobile broadband and satellite internet service. Wi-Fi obviously does not use telephone lines or cables to connect to the internet. Based on the name itself, the users are wirelessly connected to the internet through the technology that uses radio waves to provide network connectivity.

Mobile broadband is a wireless technology that allows the users to connect a mobile device such as smartphone to a broadband internet connection wireless through a mobile phone network. Mobile broadband works using either a small portable USB modem, a data card or built-in device usually on some laptops, or a mobile Wi-Fi unit to connect to the internet using the signal that used by mobile phones. As long as the users can get a signal from mobile broadband provider, they can easily connect to the internet. Other than that, satellite internet services refer to the ability to transfer and receive data from a relatively small satellite dish on Earth. In a two-way satellite internet connection, the downstream data is usually arrives as a faster speed than the upstream data sent. Thus, the connection is asymmetric, meaning that both sides are not identical.

Internet Service Provider (ISP)

Internet Service Provider (ISP) is the industry term for the company that is able to provide users with access to the Internet. These providers connect customers to customers of other service providers by way of networks. The larger ISPs provide high-speed leased lines so that they can provide better service to their customers.

Bandwidth referred to the data transfer rate, which means the amount of data that can be transferred from one point to another in a given time period, usually in a second. An internet connection with a larger bandwidth can move set amount of data faster than a lower bandwidth internet connection. Bandwidth is commonly expressed in bits per second. For example, 50 Mbps explain a data transfer rate of 50 million bits (megabits) every second.

IP Address

The IP stands for Internet Protocol. IP address can be defined as a number used to specify the location of a computer or other device on a network. There are two types of IP address, that is IPv4 address and IPv6 address. IPv4 address or Internet Protocol Version 4 is the fourth revision of the Internet Protocol used to identify devices on a network through an addressing system. 74.125.224.72 is the example for IPv4. Internet Protocol Version 6 or IPv6 is the newest version of the IP to replace the current version of IPv4. Example for IPv6 is 2001:4860:4860:8844.

Domain Name

Domain name are used to identify the IP address. Example for domain name is www.uum.edu.my and www.facebook.com. The last word in domain name is called top level domain. For example in www.facebook.com, the ‘com’ which is refers to commercial business, is the top level domain. Some other examples for top level domain are ‘gov’ for government agencies, ‘edu’ for educational institution, ‘org’ for nonprofit organization and ‘net’ for network organization.

DNS

DNS or Domain Name System used by the web server to translate the domain name to IP addresses, as the server is based on IP address and not domain name. Domain name are only used to replace the IP address so the user can easily remember it, instead of the numbers.

For more information about How does Wifi work, click the video below :