It has a well developed social science component of useful links. When you have an Internet account and you are travelling, a colleague with access to an Internet account wherever in the world you are may help you to telnet to your home Internet account. You may then logon and use it as if you were in your own office, reading your e-mail for instance. Without going into detail here, they function to distribute free software, information and allow simultaneous real time conversations between dispersed participants. These tools are still valuable but their functions tend now to be 'buried' in other more sophisticated software packages and are thus hidden from view.
Every user needs access to the Internet by means of a 'member' computer.
Many professionals choose to do this by means of a personal computer, a modem and a telephone connection to an Internet 'host' computer. Each, though, provides a 'pipe' between the Internet and the user's machine. Connections come in many gradations of quality. Since faster is better, faster also tends to involve more expense. Obviously, the quality and quantity of high technology infrastructure available to the user is a function of the national wealth of his or her country.