The net - the URLs, the DNS, the IPs, your hosts cache and CIP - works just like a telephone network.
| Telephone | = | Computer |
| Friend from Work | = | URL |
| Directory Assistance | = | Domain Name System |
| Phone Number | = | IP |
| Phone List | = | Hosts Cache |
Imagine, if you will, how long it would take to reach anybody by telephone if you had to call directory assistance every time you wanted to phone someone. That is exactly what you are doing when surfing the net without a hosts cache.
And while directory assistance is normally free, DNS searches are not - at least not for everybody. The net equivalent of directory assistance - the DNS search - doesn't only slow you up, it wastes your online time.
Looking up a "number" (IP) for someone (URL) on the Internet takes anywhere from a fraction of a second to half a minute. And while your browser's stuck there waiting for the "number", there's precious little you can do.
But this is only where the fun starts, not ends: as soon as you connect to a URL you're invariably connecting to secondary URLs too - and their "numbers" are equally unknown. It is quite common for a site to get its graphics from one URL, text from another, CGI from yet another, and ads from yet another still.
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