Structure of the Internet
The internet is structured as an interconnected network of routers. The network can also be thought of as a graph where each router is a node and each connection is an edge between those nodes.
When a packet needs to be moved from one router to another, a process called routing takes place.
The internet is split up into several subnetworks(connected components). Each connected component is owned by an ISP. The communication between those ISPs are done using two options:
- IXPs(Internet Exchange Points) which are huge data centers that manage traffic between ISPs.
- Routers of different ISPs just communicate with each other if there is a link between them.
Info
The policy for each ISP differs according to politics, economics and many other factors