eli5 What is Internet and why do we have to pay for it?
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The basic idea of the internet is that there are a lot of computers all over the world, and that we can connect those computers together through a series of wires and satellites and radios, so that someone in London can use their phone to connect to one computer that connects to a different computer that connects to a different computer that connects to a computer in San Francisco that has the information they need. That there’s a series of rules that these computers that are hooked together use so that people can use special computer programs to get that information and communicate with computers that are very close or very far away.
There are companies that are internet service providers, that allow you to contact their computer, and then their computers will reach out through that network, the internet, to get the information you want. They charge money because they have to pay for upkeep and repair of their computers, they need to get new equipment on a regular basis to expand so they can handle more people, and that it costs money to be keeping their computers operating.
So unless you pay for an internet service provider, your phone or tablet or computer can’t make the connection to the internet, because yours isn’t connected to the special other computers that are interconnected that way.
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