How Does Email Work? When you type in your message, your computer turns it into a code it can understand. Almost anything can be turned into a code. No kidding. Hmm. Let's say that Muffy is sending an email to her cousin in Florida. The code version of Muffy's email gets sent down a telephone line and her local Internet Service Provider - the people who let her get onto the Internet - looks for the "domain." The domain is the part of her cousin's email address, after the @ sign. (It's a bit like the name of your town on your street address.) The local Internet Service Provider sends it to the people who deliver email to that domain in Florida. That's similar to their local post office. From there it goes to her cousin's Internet Service Provider. It then goes down yet another telephone line to her computer. The code is turned back into alphabet letters so she can read it. This whole process can send messages anywhere in the world in just a few seconds. Incredible, but true.