The Internet is nothing but a whole lot of servers who communicate, normally over the public telephone networks, all over the world. When you start your Internet connection by phoning up your ISP via your modem you will normally get your default homepage.

When you click on a connection to for example "microsoft.com" the request is sent to your ISP's server. That server has a register of the names of some of the most common websites in something called DNS (Domain Name Service). Each name in that register also has a corresponding IP address which in a way is a bit similar to a phone number. It does not quite look like a phone number but does the same job. As an example it can look like 164.112.046.37

If "microsoft.com" is found in there, the DNS will translate the name into the corresponding IP address and send that number to a server (called a router) with known connection ability across the Atlantic. Other routers over there (that have this IP address in their register) will ensure that the request reaches "microsoft.com · Along with the request, your ISP has also enclosed the return address to your computer so this is the address that "microsoft.com" will use when they return your call and send you their homepage.

Should your ISP not have the name of the website you ask for in its database, it will pass the question on to the first router it comes to (who in turn will pass it on to the next router and so on if the name is not known). When the IP address has been resolved, the number goes back to your ISP - who memorises the number - and who then sends the completed request to his first router (together with your return address, which has also been translated into an IP address).