how the internet connects the entire world?

[Michael]

is there any cables or something from brazil to spain for example across the entire ocean or what? how the hell does it work i've been wondering, also phone.. is there some long cables that go every where?
also even if it's Wireless, how does it work? i mean wireless is nothing.. it's only air.. how can it connect such big distances and how does it work?
what are these waves and how these waves work? what is this thing? is it even physical?

[Alex]

wireless, is radiation or waves or something. and wouldn't it be the satelite in space? just guessing, there isn't cables etc. over long distnaces

[cybergofer]

Yes, that's how they do it. There are cables including aquatic ones, that link most of the populated areas in the world.

The American and European continents, for example are connected together via fiber optic cables which cross the Atlantic Ocean. There are ships which lay and maintain these fiber optic cables. Wireless internet is very recent and still does not have the capacity for the humongous amount of traffic that circulates most of the Internet

With phones there are 3 options:

landline phones (also by cable) but not much used nowadays as you know. Those wireless phones which use the land-line also use radio waves to contact the base of the device. Everything in this world that communicates wirelessly uses radio waves.

cell phones (wireless) using radio waves/radiation (in a frequency similar to microwave ovens) to contact with cellphone towers. In turn, these towers then communicate with the central (I don't know how) and this central probably also uses a land line to communicate over bigger distances (I don't believe they use satellites)

satellite phones (also wireless) and also using radio waves (but probably using a different frequency)

edit:

"Radio waves" is a term which designates a group of radiation frequencies, in the electromagnetic spectrum, which are currently used for wireless communication (this group is constantly growing).

All the different types of radiation in the electromagnetic spectrum are differentiated by their frequency VS wavelength. The higher the frequency, the lower the wavelength and vice-versa.
Electromagnetic radiation goes from the extremely high frequencies/extremely low wavelengths of gamma rays to the extremely low frequencies/extremely high wavelengths (see image below). Higher-frequency/lower-wavelength radiation carries more energy, has more penetration power, but travels shorter distances, while lower-frequency/ higher wavelength has less penetration power but travels over longer distances.

http://nuclearfootprints.com/wp-content/...ectrum.png

when higher than a certain frequency, electromagnetic radiations become ionizing. Ionizing radiation has the power of altering the composition of atoms in molecules, and that includes the molecules in our bodies, so they are extremely hazardous. Usually when movies refers to the word “radiation”, they are generally only referring to ionizing radiation (not always but generally). Radiation is a much broader term which includes harmless types of radiation, many of which are bathing us, heating us (infra red) and even crossing our bodies as we speak, and allowing us to see things (light). Sound waves are a different type of radiation not electromagnetic.

So radio waves are specific types of radiation. A message (sound, image, instruction, etc) does not travel in a radio wave the way we hear or see it. It has to be converted into a radio wave signal, this signal is then transmitted wirelessly to a receiver, which then decodes the signal back into what we recognize as image or sound or into instructions some machines will “understand”. Every wireless form of communication (FM radios, cell phones, Bluetooth, wireless keyboards and mice, TV-remotes, etc.) uses radio waves, some with higher frequencies, some with lower. According to whether they need more power of penetration (walls, etc) with less interference or longer distance travel, they will either have a bigger frequency or a longer wavelength respectively. Lower frequency/higher wavelength radio waves are easier to obstruct (more interference). Higher frequency/lower wavelength radio waves like Bluetooth are stronger and suffer lower interference but have shorter range (all depending on the power of signal). This is why FM radio, which has a very low frequency and higher wavelength, has a longer reach with fewer antennas but suffers more easily from interference.

The fact that many devices (cell phones, wireless landline phones, Wi-Fi devices such as routers with wireless capabilities, wireless computer mice and keyboards, and others) use frequencies nearly identical to those used by microwave ovens has been a source of debate because of the possibility that it may damage our health. But microwave ovens use a much higher powered signal. This is how they are able to agitate water molecules to the point of heating things up. The power of the signal is determining to how harmful this radiation is, but some say that long exposure to low powered radio waves may equate to short exposure to high powered radio waves.

Mobile phone carriers say these low power signals are perfectly safe. But the truth is there still isn’t proper investigation to tell us if that’s true. We don’t know for sure whether the constant proximity to these low powered wireless devices to our bodies can make up for their low power and still harm us in the long term.

Electromagnetic fields generated by electrical appliances are also under debate as to whether they're harmful or not in long term. The more powerful the device the wider its electromagnetic field.

Electromagnetic fields decrease exponentially with distance.

To understand a little more about the electromagnetic spectrum read this (including sub-topics related to each sub-type of radiation inside):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_spectrum

[Hangman609]

yes there are huge cables under ocean that connects to each part of the world ...from ther ethe isps take the connection and make it wireless

[Boss]

Through Satellite and fibre optic, copper cables