Basic HTML version of Foils prepared 11 May 1997 
| The Internet is a packet-switched network. Each message (or document) is broken up into a number of packets. Each packet has an address. A computer called a router sits on the local network and decides where to send it first on its way to its final address. Each computer along the network connection examines messages that come in and either keeps it or reroutes it along its way. The message is reassembled on the other end. |
| Performance of network delivery depends on the size of the message, the capacity of the various pieces of network that the message may travel along and the congestion of the network. |