My girlfriend, Laura asked me last night what exactly is The Internet and it was a little difficult to put into words. Contributors to Wikipedia have summed it up nicely, “The Internet is a worldwide, publicly accessible series of interconnected computer networks that transmit data by packet switching using the standard Internet Protocol (IP). It is a “network of networks” that consists of millions of smaller domestic, academic, business, and government networks, which together carry various information and services, such as electronic mail, online chat, file transfer, and the interlinked web pages and other resources of the World Wide Web (WWW).”

That is a very easy description of The Internet and only tells very little about “The Net.” There are many more subjects and articles online that will help you learn more.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARPANET
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_Name_System
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_Host_Configuration_Protocol
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ICANN
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_fiber
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_name
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_service_provider
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAC_address
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_server
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Protocol

The above links are probably the most laziest thing I could do to lead a novice or amateur person to learning what The Net is but I’d have quite a time and many weeks ahead of me if a single article on The Internet was needed. Wikipedia articles do a good job and can lead you in the right direction.