What is Internet Packet Switching

A very, very simplistic view of Packet Switching.

Basically data is split into separate packet. Each Packet can then be send via a different root.

Each packet contains extra data to say where it is going and the order it should arrive in as well as some verifying data.

Basically a data signal is spilt into packets of data. Each packet will have an address to go to and it's order in the sequence as well and some checking code to confirm that the data is received correctly.

Each packet of data can then be sent by the best root for that packet at that time, depending on traffic on those data lines, etc.

Once the packets arrive the data is ordered into the correct order, a data check e.g. a parity check may also take place and the data is provided to the user.

One advantage is that if one data path is damaged the data packet can be sent via a different root and so still arrive for the user.
Another advantage is that for large data blocks smaller packets (relatively), may be quicker because if the whole data was sent at once and there was a fault in that data when received then the whole, (large), data block would have to be resent. With smaller packets of data then only the smaller data packet with the problem would need to be sent.

The data will be transmitted from the main server and split into small packet, in the case of real time video this could be just part of each image frame. The data would then be correlated at the other end for viewing