The internet appears to be so simple to access; simply plug your computer into your network and you’re good to go. But how can you build your own internet, or even take your ISP’s place and control your own internet connection? Let’s look at where the internet came from and how you can make your own.
What Is the Origin of the Internet?
When you imagine your ISP sitting back in its chair, watching your monthly fees pour in while doing nothing, you could see red. However, getting the internet to you requires a significant amount of effort.
Getting in Touch With Your Internet Service Provider (ISP)
First and foremost, there is infrastructure. Your internet connection does not go straight to the internet; it must first go through your ISP. After all, ISP stands for “Internet Service Provider,” and you won’t be able to connect to the internet until you do!
You must be connected to your ISP in some way in order to do this. The most popular method is a wired connection. This is where a cable connects your router to your Internet service provider. If you have fiber, you very certainly have a copper cable running from your house to a roadside cabinet or curb pole. It uses fiber the rest of the way to your ISP once it reaches this point.
Some people, however, are fortunate enough to have a direct link to their house. This means they have fiber all the way from their residence to their ISP, which is much faster than a fiber/copper mix.
“Fiber to the Curb” (FttC) and “Fiber to the Premises” (FttP) are the terms for these two technologies. It’s commonly referred to as “Fiber to the Home” (FttH) if you utilize the latter to run a connection all the way to your residence. More information on these strategies may be found on our page on the differences between FttC and FttP.
How to Get an IP Address
You’ll need an IP address now that you’ve established a connection with your ISP. This is assigned by your ISP, and it allows the servers you connect to communicate with you.
Your ISP will not select four random numbers from a bag and give you the result as an address when you request an IP address. Your ISP must register with the IP address organization in your country in order to obtain a block of addresses that it can give to its customers.
Each geographical region has its own network of IP addresses. To obtain addresses in North America, your ISP must contact ARIN. RIPE NNC is for Europe, whereas APNIC is for Asia. We’ll take you wherever you want to go.
It’s time to venture out into the world now that you have a connection to your ISP and an address. Your ISP will assist you in determining where your connection wants to go and will send it there. Your Internet service provider (ISP) will set up a DNS server for you. This converts a website’s URL into an IP address, which the servers may use to route your request to the correct location.
We went over what a DNS server is and why they become inaccessible in more detail. As you can see, your ISP does a lot to assist you in getting online. Can you, however, create your own internet if you really wanted to?
How to Create an Internet of Your Own
Let’s imagine you wake up one day and decide you’ve had enough of the internet and want to set up your own connection. You don’t want to pay your Internet service provider anymore, and you want to handle all of the technical details on your own.
You’ll need a server that can take your connection and direct it to the internet in order to do this. You may either buy all of the hardware yourself or hire a server from someone else.
Then you must apply for an IP address with your country’s ISP organization. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to just ask for one; you’ll have to buy a bunch. After that, you must connect your server to your home in order to access the internet. You can either lay your own fiber cables (which is quite expensive!) or hire another company’s infrastructure.
You’ve probably already spent well into the five figures, possibly with some hefty rental fees thrown in for good measure. Unless you start giving your services to other people, you’ll probably end up in a lot of debt.
After all, you have that large batch of IP addresses; you can get consumers to sign up for your service and pay you monthly to utilize it. This should help you recoup your sunk costs and offset the charges.
The only problem is that you’ve turned into the same thing you pledged to eliminate! You’re now an ISP, and you’re taking on customers to help pay your bills. You’ve finally gotten rid of those pesky internet costs, but now you’re in charge of an entire company. It’s probably best to hire an ISP to handle all of the legwork for you!
Orcas Island as an example of a Community Internet Service Provider
While creating your own ISP just for yourself isn’t a great idea, there are cases of people teaming together to create an ISP for their local community. This is the most recent example of someone setting up a personal internet connection.
The story of fifty people on Orcas Island was featured by Ars Technica. They had internet access through an ISP, but the connection was inconsistent due to their location on a rural island.
Orcas Island inhabitants took affairs into their own hands. They discovered a microwave broadband tower owned by StarTouch Broadband Services on a beach 10 kilometers distant. All that was required of the residents was to join the network.
They paid $11,000 for permission to use the microwave tower and then built their own using a water tower as the foundation. The signals were then sent to trees near people’s homes, where they were hooked in. Residents of Orcas Island ultimately got a consistent 30Mbps download speed—-not bad for such a remote location!
So, in a sense, you can construct your own internet; however, instead of looking for ways to reduce your monthly fees, you’ll need a large community push to fund and set it up.
How to Build a Website
While the following material is useful for persons who want to set up their own internet connection, it does not address the question of how to do so that some people have.
If you’re wondering how to do this, you’re probably trying to accomplish one of two things: either create a website that other people can access, or create a “little internet” for your home.
Creating a Website on the World Wide Web
When you wish to construct a website, you aren’t actually creating a new internet. What you’re doing is creating an internet-based web page. It’s like asking for a Planet Earth from a real estate agent when all you truly want is your own home!
Fortunately, creating a website is much less difficult than creating a complete internet. For additional information, see our tutorial on how to create a website.
If coding isn’t your thing, you may create a website with a website builder. Take a look at our step-by-step guide to creating a WordPress blog and save yourself some time.
How to Set Up a “Local Internet” in Your Home
It is possible to set up your home computers so that they all connect to each other on a “local internet.”However, we should avoid using the term “internet” in this context. Normally, you use the internet to connect to things outside of your home; in this case, you’re attempting to communicate with gadgets in your immediate vicinity.
This type of “internet” has a name: a Local Area Network (LAN). The “Local Area” element of the name is crucial; we’re only connecting to devices that are literally within walking distance.
Conclusion:
While it is technically possible to create your own internet connection, it is extremely costly and only worthwhile if you intend to become an ISP. As a result, unless you’re planning on getting an entire community on board, it’s preferable to develop your own internet.
Don’t worry if you still wish to retake some power from your ISP. There are numerous reasons why you should replace your ISP’s router with one of your own designs.
