Where is the internet defined by the word "wires"?
this post was submitted on 06 Jun 2026
-6 points (41.2% liked)
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I was reading somewhere that internet means ocean bed cables.
Stop reading that. It’s wrong.
Eh, not really. OP just fundamentally misunderstood some things. And probably refused to read up on them.
But.. It's not wrong. Those cables make up the intercontinental connections. The latency via satellite is far worse.
Underwater cables being used for parts of the internet is not the same thing as "internet means wires."
Yes, but it's being a critical part of it's infrastructure.
Wireless is also critical, but I'm starting to think your confusion is more around grammar than technology.
You might be spot on there. I'm not natively English and also neurodivergent which separately leads to a lot of miscommunication let alone together.
What comes across as confusion might literally be a completely different view and understanding.
Anyhow it's absolutely not critical here, for all I care smoke signs are still relevant 🤣
So if your Internet traffic (i.e. the stuff you send and receive to others) goes across the ocean, it might go through cables laid on the ocean floor.
There are “Internet cables” across the ocean; there are also “Internet satellites” orbiting the earth. The cables are good because they provide low latency. But that is not the most desired feature of all Internet packets; sometimes, bandwidth or range are higher priority than latency, and in those cases, a wireless transport layer may be preferred.
What is latency ? And what is bandwidth ?
Latency, also known as ping time by gamers, is the amount of time it takes for a signal to get from one computer to the other. Bandwidth is the total number of signals that can be sent over a given amount of time.
Eg: a bus has more bandwidth than a Kawasaki motorcycle, but also more latency (from a people moving perspective).
Internet is information. Information can easily be sent long distances through wires, so we use wires to cross the ocean, but information can still be sent shorter distances wirelessly through electromagnetic waves, so on land we build a bunch of towers and install routers in our homes to let us access that information wirelessly wherever we are.
In a nutshell, the "Internet" is actually a mix of fibre optic cables, copper wires, wireless networks, and satellites that all intercommunicate with each other using the Internet Protocol (IP). These different parts are used for different purposes.
Wireless is used for mobile devices, home networks, etc., while wired connections are common when speed is of utmost importance, so things like enterprise networks, servers, that sort of thing uses wires and cables. Fibre optic cables uses light to transmit data while copper wires use the flow of electrons (electricity) to do so, the former is faster but more expensive while the latter is more affordable. Finally, satellites are used when neither is available, and typically used when you are somewhere remote, or when normal connection methods are disrupted. In Ukraine, soldiers use satellites to communicate due to the disruption of mobile networks from the war.
The cables under the sea are used to connect the networks across seas and oceans, allowing people on both sides to communicate with one another. A normal wireless connection can't work at these distances without the use of a very large (and expensive) receiver, so undersea cables are used to do so. Disruptions of these cables (by both natural and human actors) have caused concern for a lot of people as they are critical for communication across the world.
The answer is No.
The internet has always been ignorant/agnostic of the physical layer.
Internet is internetwork (ie inter-network), meaning a network of networks.
Wires are not part of the definition
If internet means wires
It does not now and has never meant wires.
The internet as we know it has always included wireless links. The AlohaNET, a wireless network, was part of the Internet from the start. The ArpaNET became the Internet in 1977 when it first connected multiple networks together. The AlohaNET joined the ArpaNET in 1972.
Actually, the Internet does not mean wires. It is the global computer network that uses the Internet protocol suite to communicate. The medium of the connection (e.g., wireless, copper wires, fiber optic, etc.) is mostly irrelevant.
As for your phone, it communicates with the rest of the Internet wirelessly, i.e. by sending and receiving electromagnetic waves through the air. The details depend on whether your phone is using mobile data or WiFi. Your phone gets connected to the Internet because it has the required hardware (wireless transceiver, embedded computer), software (web browser (e.g. Firefox, Chrome 🤮), operating system (e.g. Android)), configuration (set to connect to a network), and credentials (WiFi password if needed, WiFi network name).
The internet does not mean "wires" any more than electricity means "wires". It may use wires in places, but that does not define the concept.
Internet is just an interconnected network of computers. The connections between those computers can be wired with copper, wireless over radio, or they can use light through fiber optic cabling made of glass. The internet is about the concept of getting disparate / discrete machines to communicate, wires are just one of the tools it can use to do that.
A computer network is a group of computers that are connected somehow--through wires, wireless signals, or birds.
The internet is a massive network of millions of computers. And it uses a lot of different things to connect together, including wires, wireless signals, and optical cables.
The link provided was very entertaining, thanks 😃
Engineers and tech people are more whimsical than most people realize. For more like this, check RFCs 2324, 2795, or check the whole list.
Wow, OP posts to "no stupid questions" but still gets ripped...
This is turning into Reddit Jr with all the hive-minded people that don't like to be helpful, just talk about how they're right. God forbid anyone have a real curiosity or question.
OP I upvoted all your comments to give some karma back...
There is no karma on Lemmy.
Despite the title of the community, some questions are actually pretty dumb
This one however, isn't one of them.
It's not based on stupidity, just wrong information.
It's based on an assumption that was never correct.
A simple read of the definition of Internet, or a Wikipedia page would've clarified this.
Yes that's what "wrong information" means
In this specific case, your phone exchanges radio signals with a cell tower, and then the cell tower transfers your data requests onto the wires.
It is an “interconnected network” which, yes, originally used only cables - because that’s all there was.
A car is still a car - even when you substitute the combustion engine for an electric motor.
yes, originally used only cables - because that’s all there was
That's not correct. The Arpanet, the precursor to the Internet, already included the wireless AlohaNet by Dec 1972. The Arpanet didn't become a true Internet, a network connecting 2 or more other networks, until 1977. So the Internet as we know it has always included wireless links.
Yeah, for sure. But with the actual question being asked I wasn’t going to get all historical - I thought I’d stay with an eli5 answer for simplicity.
Except, even from the start it wasn't defined by wires.
Technically, it's 'pipes' not 'wires,' but they function the same.
When you hold the phone in your hand while standing on the ground, you're closing a very long circuit that connects everyone via underground 'electro-acoustic pipes.' A few years ago, they laid conduits under waters so people from island nations could make overseas calls.
That is also why they would ask people to turn off their phones when they get on airplanes. They finally got it working while moving using flight attendants on break, small flashlights, and quantum encryption.
Scientists are still working on calls dropping when people are on trampolines.
No. It’s not a truck. It’s a series of tubes.
Your phone connects to what ammounts to a big wifi router and that is usually connected by cables.