September 8, 2026 • 10 mins
Ever wondered what actually happens when you hit send on an email — or why your house and office are full of little boxes with blinking lights?
In this episode of The Technology Translator, we break networking down into plain English. From Wi-Fi and Ethernet to routers, switches, IP addresses, DNS, bandwidth and even why LAN parties were once the ultimate nerd event, we follow how information actually gets from A to B.
No networking degree required. Just a simple explanation of the invisible communication system behind almost every piece of technology we use.
Thanks for listening to The Technology Translator.
If you found this episode useful, please follow the podcast and share it with someone who has ever been responsible for making a technology decision.
You can connect with me on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoriaccole/
Instagram - @thetechnologytranslator
Email - vic@thetechnologytranslator.au
Remember:
You don't need to become technical.
You do need to become informed.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:08):
Welcome to the Technology Translator.
I'm Vic.
Every episode we break downtechnology, cybersecurity, and
AI into plain English forAustralian business leaders.
Welcome to the podcast.
Hello and welcome back to theTechnology Translator, the
(00:31):
podcast where we make technologymake sense.
Today's episode is one I'veactually been looking forward to
recording because believe it ornot, this is something I had to
spend a fair amount of timegetting my own head around.
If you came to my house andlooked at my internet setup,
you'd see modem, a couple ofrouters, little random white
boxes throughout the house, acouple of Wi-Fi access points.
(00:55):
For years I knew what they did,sort of, but I really couldn't
explain why they all existed.
Then I started thinking, ifsomeone who's worked in
technology for over ten yearsstill had to stop and think
about networking, then surelybusiness owners shouldn't feel
bad for finding it confusingeither.
So today let's strip away allthe jargon.
(01:16):
Forget switches, forget routers,forget IP addresses for a
moment.
Instead, let's answer one simplequestion.
What actually happens when youpress send on an email?
So imagine you're sitting inyour office.
You send an email to someone inSydney, or maybe you save a
document into SharePoint.
(01:37):
Perhaps you're even uploading aphoto from your phone.
Every one of those things issimply communication, and that's
really what networking is.
It's communication.
Technology just has a fancy wayof saying it.
A network is simply two or moredevices that can communicate
with each other, and that's it.
It's not the internet, we're nottalking about Wi-Fi, it's just
(01:59):
communication.
Your office has a network, yourhome has a network.
Even your smart TV and yourphone are actually talking to
each other.
The network is simply thelanguage that they all use to
have that conversation.
So I always like to findanalogies to make technology
easier to understand.
So let's imagine that yourbusiness is a city.
(02:23):
The people living in that cityare your devices, your laptop,
your phone, your printer, yourmeeting room screen, security
cameras, even sadly, your coffeemachine these days.
But every single one of thosethings wants to send and receive
information.
But people can't communicate ifthere are no roads.
And that's exactly what yournetwork is, the road system.
(02:45):
Some roads have bitumen, someare just dirt, some may be
highways.
And technology has the exactsame thing.
You have wired roads andwireless roads.
So let's start with two of themost common ways devices
communicate Ethernet and Wi-Fi.
Ethernet is simply a cable.
(03:06):
Think of it as a sealed highway.
It's that big port that you'reable to shove that thing into.
It's reliable, it's fast, it'spredictable.
Wi-Fi is the same journey, justwithout the cable.
It's still the same network.
It just traveling down throughradio waves instead.
And here's the one thing peopleoften don't realize.
(03:29):
Wi-Fi itself isn't the internet.
If your Wi-Fi stops working andyour phone suddenly starts
working on 5G, the internetitself wasn't broken.
The wireless connection insideyour house was.
They're completely differentthings.
So let's explain the mysteriouscollection of blinking boxes
(03:50):
that seem to multiply every timesomeone upgrades your internet.
And let's start with the easiestone, an access point.
This is probably one of thosefancy little white discs on the
ceiling in an office, or one ofthose extra Wi-Fi units you've
probably got around the house.
Its only job is to broadcast theWi-Fi.
It doesn't create the internet,it doesn't make your internet
(04:12):
any faster, it simply letswireless devices join your
existing network.
And now let's imagine you havelots of devices that use cables
instead.
Computers, printers, servers.
That's where a switch comes in.
Think of it like a powerboard.
Except instead of giving youextra power sockets, it gives
(04:32):
you extra network sockets.
Now eventually your businesswill want to talk to another
network.
It might be Microsoft, it mightbe Google, might actually be
another office.
That's the router's job.
The router decides where trafficshould go.
So like a GPS for your data.
And then finally, there's themodem.
(04:53):
The modem is a translatorbetween your home office and
your internet provider.
Now, here's where a lot ofpeople do get confused, myself
included.
Many modem internet boxesactually combine the modem,
router, and Wi-Fi into the onedevice, which is why most people
simply call that whole thing themodem.
(05:14):
But technically it is doingseveral jobs at once.
So let's also take a step backand talk about what actually is
the internet.
This one surprised me when Ifirst started to understand it.
The internet definitely is notone giant computer, it's not
some magical place, despitefeeling like that sometimes.
(05:36):
Then the internet is literally anetwork of networks.
Your home network, my homenetwork, Microsoft's, Google's,
every university, every bank,every business, they're all
individual networks justconnected together.
And that's why it's called theInternet.
Networks connected together.
(05:59):
So let's imagine trying to senda parcel without an address.
It'd never arrive.
Computers have the same problem.
Every device has an address,it's called an IP address, and
that's how information knowswhere it's going.
Thankfully, we don't have toremember them.
Imagine instead of typinggoogle.com, you had to remember
(06:21):
a string of numbers every singletime.
That's where this thing calledDNS comes in.
DNS is basically your contactslist.
You remember mum.
Your phone remembers the number.
You remember google.com, DNSremembers the actual address.
So one question that you do findevery now and then is why does
(06:43):
my internet just feel slow?
And this is another one thatpeople get mixed up all the
time.
You often will say my internetfeels slow, or you'll hear
people say that same thing.
But there is actually a fewdifferent reasons why that can
actually happen.
The first is bandwidth.
Think of a highway.
If you've only got two lanes,only so many cars can travel at
(07:04):
once.
Add eight lanes, and suddenly alot more traffic gets through.
That's bandwidth.
It's like the uh Bruce Highwayon a Friday afternoon heading
either north or south ofBrisbane.
The second is latency.
Latency is how long it takes forthe first car to reach its
actual destination.
You can have a huge highway, butif it's 500 kilometers long,
(07:28):
you're still waiting.
And that's why gamers actuallyobsess over latency and why
video calls feel awkward iflatency is high, even when your
internet speed looks fantastic.
Now, let's solve one mysterythat completely confused me
growing up (07:44):
land parties.
Why were they such a massivething?
Personally, I used to haverelatives who uh used to go sit
in uh shared community spacesand they'd hook up a whole bunch
of computers and they'd have allnight uh gaming sessions.
And I never understood whythey're actually such a massive
(08:06):
thing.
So a LAN simply stands for localarea network.
Back in the 90s, early 2000s,home internet was slow, really
slow.
So instead of playing over theinternet, people literally
carried their desktop computersto a friend's house or a
community space, plugged themall into the same local network
(08:26):
with Ethernet cables, and playedtogether.
No internet was required, justone local network.
So now you know what LAN means,and a LAN party suddenly makes
perfect sense.
So hopefully networking nowfeels a little less mysterious.
(08:47):
At the end of the day,networking isn't about routers,
switches, or blinking lights.
It's all about communication.
Every email, every Teamsmeeting, every cloud
application, every website,every AI tool, every file you
save.
It relies on networks quietlydoing their job in the
background.
As a business leader, this issomething you want to be able to
(09:08):
understand because if you dohave multiple office locations,
you need to be able tounderstand why you'd want to
have local area networks andlocal networks within your
building, and maybe evensomething that connects one
office to another.
It means that you cancommunicate securely between
those uh locations withoutactually having to go on the
(09:28):
internet.
It is definitely somethingthat's worth investing in, and
uh if you now that you shouldknow a few more of the basics,
will hopefully make your uh alittle bit more sense when
people come to you for the nextuh invoice.
Next week we're going to buildon something from today's
episode, talking about one ofthe most misunderstood pieces of
technology in any business, thefirewall.
(09:51):
Because now that we know howinformation travels, the next
question is who actually isallowed through that gate?
Thank you for listening to theTechnology Translator.
If you found this episodeuseful, share it with someone
who's ever looked at a blinkinginternet box and wondered what
on earth it actually does.
Until next week, keep askingquestions and keep making
(10:11):
technology make sense.
Thanks for joining the episode.
If you do want to follow me onInstagram at all, you can find
me under the TechnologyTranslator.
If you would like to email me,Vic at the Technology
Translator.au And I guess Iwouldn't be doing this properly
(10:36):
if I didn't say if you like whatyou hear, hit the follow button.
There will be more of theseepisodes coming up.
Welcome to the Technology Translator.
I'm Vic.
Every episode we break downtechnology, cybersecurity, and
AI into plain English forAustralian business leaders.
Welcome to the podcast.
Hello and welcome back to theTechnology Translator, the
(00:31):
podcast where we make technologymake sense.
Today's episode is one I'veactually been looking forward to
recording because believe it ornot, this is something I had to
spend a fair amount of timegetting my own head around.
If you came to my house andlooked at my internet setup,
you'd see modem, a couple ofrouters, little random white
boxes throughout the house, acouple of Wi-Fi access points.
(00:55):
For years I knew what they did,sort of, but I really couldn't
explain why they all existed.
Then I started thinking, ifsomeone who's worked in
technology for over ten yearsstill had to stop and think
about networking, then surelybusiness owners shouldn't feel
bad for finding it confusingeither.
So today let's strip away allthe jargon.
(01:16):
Forget switches, forget routers,forget IP addresses for a
moment.
Instead, let's answer one simplequestion.
What actually happens when youpress send on an email?
So imagine you're sitting inyour office.
You send an email to someone inSydney, or maybe you save a
document into SharePoint.
(01:37):
Perhaps you're even uploading aphoto from your phone.
Every one of those things issimply communication, and that's
really what networking is.
It's communication.
Technology just has a fancy wayof saying it.
A network is simply two or moredevices that can communicate
with each other, and that's it.
It's not the internet, we're nottalking about Wi-Fi, it's just
(01:59):
communication.
Your office has a network, yourhome has a network.
Even your smart TV and yourphone are actually talking to
each other.
The network is simply thelanguage that they all use to
have that conversation.
So I always like to findanalogies to make technology
easier to understand.
So let's imagine that yourbusiness is a city.
(02:23):
The people living in that cityare your devices, your laptop,
your phone, your printer, yourmeeting room screen, security
cameras, even sadly, your coffeemachine these days.
But every single one of thosethings wants to send and receive
information.
But people can't communicate ifthere are no roads.
And that's exactly what yournetwork is, the road system.
(02:45):
Some roads have bitumen, someare just dirt, some may be
highways.
And technology has the exactsame thing.
You have wired roads andwireless roads.
So let's start with two of themost common ways devices
communicate Ethernet and Wi-Fi.
Ethernet is simply a cable.
(03:06):
Think of it as a sealed highway.
It's that big port that you'reable to shove that thing into.
It's reliable, it's fast, it'spredictable.
Wi-Fi is the same journey, justwithout the cable.
It's still the same network.
It just traveling down throughradio waves instead.
And here's the one thing peopleoften don't realize.
(03:29):
Wi-Fi itself isn't the internet.
If your Wi-Fi stops working andyour phone suddenly starts
working on 5G, the internetitself wasn't broken.
The wireless connection insideyour house was.
They're completely differentthings.
So let's explain the mysteriouscollection of blinking boxes
(03:50):
that seem to multiply every timesomeone upgrades your internet.
And let's start with the easiestone, an access point.
This is probably one of thosefancy little white discs on the
ceiling in an office, or one ofthose extra Wi-Fi units you've
probably got around the house.
Its only job is to broadcast theWi-Fi.
It doesn't create the internet,it doesn't make your internet
(04:12):
any faster, it simply letswireless devices join your
existing network.
And now let's imagine you havelots of devices that use cables
instead.
Computers, printers, servers.
That's where a switch comes in.
Think of it like a powerboard.
Except instead of giving youextra power sockets, it gives
(04:32):
you extra network sockets.
Now eventually your businesswill want to talk to another
network.
It might be Microsoft, it mightbe Google, might actually be
another office.
That's the router's job.
The router decides where trafficshould go.
So like a GPS for your data.
And then finally, there's themodem.
(04:53):
The modem is a translatorbetween your home office and
your internet provider.
Now, here's where a lot ofpeople do get confused, myself
included.
Many modem internet boxesactually combine the modem,
router, and Wi-Fi into the onedevice, which is why most people
simply call that whole thing themodem.
(05:14):
But technically it is doingseveral jobs at once.
So let's also take a step backand talk about what actually is
the internet.
This one surprised me when Ifirst started to understand it.
The internet definitely is notone giant computer, it's not
some magical place, despitefeeling like that sometimes.
(05:36):
Then the internet is literally anetwork of networks.
Your home network, my homenetwork, Microsoft's, Google's,
every university, every bank,every business, they're all
individual networks justconnected together.
And that's why it's called theInternet.
Networks connected together.
(05:59):
So let's imagine trying to senda parcel without an address.
It'd never arrive.
Computers have the same problem.
Every device has an address,it's called an IP address, and
that's how information knowswhere it's going.
Thankfully, we don't have toremember them.
Imagine instead of typinggoogle.com, you had to remember
(06:21):
a string of numbers every singletime.
That's where this thing calledDNS comes in.
DNS is basically your contactslist.
You remember mum.
Your phone remembers the number.
You remember google.com, DNSremembers the actual address.
So one question that you do findevery now and then is why does
(06:43):
my internet just feel slow?
And this is another one thatpeople get mixed up all the
time.
You often will say my internetfeels slow, or you'll hear
people say that same thing.
But there is actually a fewdifferent reasons why that can
actually happen.
The first is bandwidth.
Think of a highway.
If you've only got two lanes,only so many cars can travel at
(07:04):
once.
Add eight lanes, and suddenly alot more traffic gets through.
That's bandwidth.
It's like the uh Bruce Highwayon a Friday afternoon heading
either north or south ofBrisbane.
The second is latency.
Latency is how long it takes forthe first car to reach its
actual destination.
You can have a huge highway, butif it's 500 kilometers long,
(07:28):
you're still waiting.
And that's why gamers actuallyobsess over latency and why
video calls feel awkward iflatency is high, even when your
internet speed looks fantastic.
Now, let's solve one mysterythat completely confused me
growing up (07:44):
land parties.
Why were they such a massivething?
Personally, I used to haverelatives who uh used to go sit
in uh shared community spacesand they'd hook up a whole bunch
of computers and they'd have allnight uh gaming sessions.
And I never understood whythey're actually such a massive
(08:06):
thing.
So a LAN simply stands for localarea network.
Back in the 90s, early 2000s,home internet was slow, really
slow.
So instead of playing over theinternet, people literally
carried their desktop computersto a friend's house or a
community space, plugged themall into the same local network
(08:26):
with Ethernet cables, and playedtogether.
No internet was required, justone local network.
So now you know what LAN means,and a LAN party suddenly makes
perfect sense.
So hopefully networking nowfeels a little less mysterious.
(08:47):
At the end of the day,networking isn't about routers,
switches, or blinking lights.
It's all about communication.
Every email, every Teamsmeeting, every cloud
application, every website,every AI tool, every file you
save.
It relies on networks quietlydoing their job in the
background.
As a business leader, this issomething you want to be able to
(09:08):
understand because if you dohave multiple office locations,
you need to be able tounderstand why you'd want to
have local area networks andlocal networks within your
building, and maybe evensomething that connects one
office to another.
It means that you cancommunicate securely between
those uh locations withoutactually having to go on the
(09:28):
internet.
It is definitely somethingthat's worth investing in, and
uh if you now that you shouldknow a few more of the basics,
will hopefully make your uh alittle bit more sense when
people come to you for the nextuh invoice.
Next week we're going to buildon something from today's
episode, talking about one ofthe most misunderstood pieces of
technology in any business, thefirewall.
(09:51):
Because now that we know howinformation travels, the next
question is who actually isallowed through that gate?
Thank you for listening to theTechnology Translator.
If you found this episodeuseful, share it with someone
who's ever looked at a blinkinginternet box and wondered what
on earth it actually does.
Until next week, keep askingquestions and keep making
(10:11):
technology make sense.
Thanks for joining the episode.
If you do want to follow me onInstagram at all, you can find
me under the TechnologyTranslator.
If you would like to email me,Vic at the Technology
Translator.au And I guess Iwouldn't be doing this properly
(10:36):
if I didn't say if you like whatyou hear, hit the follow button.
There will be more of theseepisodes coming up.
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