Internet

• In a sentence that a non-technical friend or family member would understand, what is the internet?

• What does it mean if a URL begins with https:// as opposed to http://?

• What does it mean for a computer to have a private IP address (e.g. one that begins with 10., 192.168., or 172.16.)?

• Why do TCP/IP packets from one computer to another not always take the same amount of time to arrive at their destination?

• Today’s “home routers” are often much more than routers alone. They are also “access points” (aka APs) and “firewalls” too. What is an access point (AP)? And what is a firewall?

• Both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are wireless technologies, but each tends to be used differently. In one or more sentences, distinguish the two technologies, citing one or more use cases for each (e.g., devices that use each and why).

• Suppose that you turn on your computer and visit https://www.harvard.edu/ in a browser. Using each of the terms below in a context that makes clear your understanding of each, explain in a paragraph the process by which Harvard’s home page appears on your screen: DHCP server, DNS server, IP address, packet, TCP port, web server.

• Whether or not you have internet service at home, Google around for an internet service provider (ISP) that provides internet service to your neighborhood (or somewhere nearby). What’s the ISP you found? What speeds does the ISP you found offer? At what cost? And do they offer symmetric (i.e., identical) upload and download speeds, or do they differ?