Although initially created as a way for individual networks of government agencies to send important information during the Cold War, the internet has become a way for everyday people to communicate, socialize, and enjoy their leisure time. If the high-speed internet that you know today didn’t exist, your life would probably be drastically different. Below is a brief outline of how the internet has evolved to bring you the quick service you expect.

Creation of the Internet

ARPANET

After electronic computers were invented in the 1950s, research laboratories in several different countries began looking for ways to make the machines faster and better at processing information. In the 1960s, this led to the creation of packet switching, which broke down data into blocks to send it to another computer within the same network. In 1969, the first network system, known as ARPANET, sent the first message from a research lab at UCLA to a lab at Stanford. Other networking systems—including Tymnet, Merit Network, CYCLADES, and Telenet—would also pop up around this time. 

TCP/IP

Initially, just four computers were connected to ARPANET, but this number grew to over 200 by the early 1980s. However, computers on ARPANET’S network had difficulties communicating with other packet-switching networks as each relied on its own language for sending information. Later in the decade, computer scientist Vinton Cerf began to crack the problem by creating a universal language known as Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)—and later, he created Internet Protocol (IP). These systems for interconnecting network devices allowed computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee to expand on the idea in the 1990s to invent the World Wide Web.

Evolution of High-Speed Internet

Although Internet Service Providers (ISPs) were first formed in the late 1980s and were already offering dial-up connections to research and education communities, public use of the internet would not take off until the mid-1990s. This was when graphic design and browsers started to make it much easier for non-technical users to access information. However, as dial-up was the main way to access this information at the time, most people could only get up to 56 kilobits per second. This meant waiting for an image to load or a file to download would take a while. 

Thankfully, networking services deployed ADSL broadband in 1996 to speed up rates. Cable broadband, which relied on a cable wire instead of a phone line, came shortly after and made reaching up to 100 megabits per second possible. By 2010, the majority of U.S. households were using broadband. Today, broadband connections are being replaced in many areas by fiber-optic cables, which transmit pulses of light instead of signals to reduce interference and reach speeds up to 500 megabits per second.

When you need reliable, high-speed internet, turn to RTC Communications in Rochester, IN. Their fiber optic internet is the fastest around with up to 750/200 megabyte download and upload speeds. To learn more about their wireless and fiber broadband packages, call them today at (574) 223-2191. You can also visit their website to see which type of internet services are available in your area.