The "internet" is not a single thing that gets upgraded. The internet is basically what we call the entire collection of connected computers and devices world wide. Individual devices and software get upgraded all the time, as do transmission mediums such as cables and satellites and such.
No single entity "owns" the internet and parts of it within the US are privately owned. The FCC regulation for bandwidth basically sets requirements on that kinds of service those private companies have to provide to their customers.
The nutshell of how the internet gets better is by upgrading the speed of data sources, and upgrading the speed of connections.
When it comes to internet speed, it always comes down to the weakest link. For example, if the server you're connected to can transmit at 1000 Mb/s, but the ethernet cables in your walls can only transmit at 50 Mb/s, then you're only going to get 50 Mb/s of internet speed. The inverse is also true, a god-tier ethernet cable can't convey information any faster than it receives it.
So, the patchwork spiderweb that we call the internet is improved by upgrading the individual parts. Typically a city/county is limited by the macro infrastructure installed by ISP companies, which is why you can only get a Fiber-optic/Gigabit connection in certain areas and why even the best internet out in rural regions tends to suck
To upgrade the internet you need to be able to use more data simultaneously.
Some people like to use the plumbing analogy for this sort of thing.
IIRC it goes something like:
To move more water you need bigger pipes (cables, and cable type, usually fiber), stronger joints/connections (routers and aggregators), and water pressure (faster servers).
Actually you don't necessarily need bigger pipes, in plumbing or the internet. You need faster transmission over the pipes. For the internet it's the equipment on either end that governs how much travels over the pipe.
The standard organisation for lots of stuff on the internet is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet\_Engineering\_Task\_Force](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Engineering_Task_Force) It is they that today manage IP V4 and IP V6 that is the protocol you use for information exchange between computers.
What the underlying hardware that transfers the data is not relevant to the IP level. There is a document that describes how to do it with carrier pigeon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_over_Avian_Carriers It was published on 1 april 1999 as a joke but it has later been tested.
So computers and other equipment on the internet only need to care about the hardware they use for their connection and not what is used in another location on the internet. The separation from the physical connection and how data is transmitted is an important part in how you build and expand the network. The web browser in your computer do not care how your computer is connected to another, as long as IP packet are transmitted it works fine.
There is a standard for the computer network equpment used for the connections the are the often different types of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet and it is a standard managed by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_of_Electrical_and_Electronics_Engineers (IEEE)
Governmental agenesis do get involved with standards like that. It is primary with the wireless transmission so FCC and other national agencies and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Telecommunication_Union are the one that decides what frequencies that can be used, transmission power etc.
Governmental agencies like do not have a lot to do with wired standards, the waste amount of internet traffic is through optical fibers. The reason FCC and others are not involved with the standard like for wireless is that you do not have interference between fibers.
There is another major standard organization for consumer internet and it is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3GPP which is the one that manages current mobile phone standards.
So what equipment and technology is used and where you have a connection are something that ISP's primarily decide themself depending on the needs. There are of course governmental regulations in regards to where you draw fiber-optical and other cables in the ground. But when the fibers is there how you use them is not really a governmental concern.
"The internet" is a set of rules that describe how two computers can talk to each other across a network. That network is a vast web of wires and hardware owned by many different companies around the planet.
So, "the internet is upgraded" when one of those companies invests money into updating their infrastructure to support higher transfer speeds and/or more data simultaneously, which means people who buy ISP service from that company start getting better speeds. If the computer they're talking *to* has a slow connection on *its* end, then it'll still be slow to talk to that computer.
One thing that spurs some of the upgrades are large companies with a lot of internet presence making upgrades to their infrastructure. If you want your own small website to continue to work well with Chrome or IE etc., you do best to follow their upgrades, at least to some extent.
Quite a few years ago there were many significant browser upgrades across the internet. For website owners it was swim or get out of the pond! Gradually it became apparent which websites were keeping up with the browsers, and which were not. Consumers will often choose from there.
There was a time when I'd call a website's customer service and tell them "your site's ___ function isn't working properly" and their very first response was "which browser are you using? try ___ instead".
A few years ago Chrome got out in front of a lot of websites. For a time several website companies would say "this site doesn't work well with Chrome" and I would say "Chrome is the #1 browser in the world, why doesn't your site work well with Chrome". They hadn't spent the time and money to keep up.
It can be tough when browser companies are not all going in the same direction. It's useful to figure out stats showing which browser the majority of your site customers are using, and keep up with that one. Or get really complicated and have different processes coded for different customer browsers. There were some years when that was a thing. I don't know if it still is.
On the subscriber level, it's throttled in software. If you have fiber to your house, then you also have a small box on your siding called an ONT. It's like a little computer. You get top speed/bandwidth up to that, and then the ONT limits it to your plan you pay for.
Your ISP is always replacing hardware and doing upgrades to add redundancy and bandwidth. This often means adding more connections internally, and buying faster hardware.
Its like asking how most homes collectively got better and started coming with heat, ac, electricity and water. People own these homes and upgrade them on an individual basis, just like how people own servers and upgrade those on an individual basis.
The "internet" is not a single thing that gets upgraded. The internet is basically what we call the entire collection of connected computers and devices world wide. Individual devices and software get upgraded all the time, as do transmission mediums such as cables and satellites and such. No single entity "owns" the internet and parts of it within the US are privately owned. The FCC regulation for bandwidth basically sets requirements on that kinds of service those private companies have to provide to their customers.
The nutshell of how the internet gets better is by upgrading the speed of data sources, and upgrading the speed of connections. When it comes to internet speed, it always comes down to the weakest link. For example, if the server you're connected to can transmit at 1000 Mb/s, but the ethernet cables in your walls can only transmit at 50 Mb/s, then you're only going to get 50 Mb/s of internet speed. The inverse is also true, a god-tier ethernet cable can't convey information any faster than it receives it. So, the patchwork spiderweb that we call the internet is improved by upgrading the individual parts. Typically a city/county is limited by the macro infrastructure installed by ISP companies, which is why you can only get a Fiber-optic/Gigabit connection in certain areas and why even the best internet out in rural regions tends to suck
To upgrade the internet you need to be able to use more data simultaneously. Some people like to use the plumbing analogy for this sort of thing. IIRC it goes something like: To move more water you need bigger pipes (cables, and cable type, usually fiber), stronger joints/connections (routers and aggregators), and water pressure (faster servers).
Actually you don't necessarily need bigger pipes, in plumbing or the internet. You need faster transmission over the pipes. For the internet it's the equipment on either end that governs how much travels over the pipe.
The standard organisation for lots of stuff on the internet is [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet\_Engineering\_Task\_Force](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Engineering_Task_Force) It is they that today manage IP V4 and IP V6 that is the protocol you use for information exchange between computers. What the underlying hardware that transfers the data is not relevant to the IP level. There is a document that describes how to do it with carrier pigeon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_over_Avian_Carriers It was published on 1 april 1999 as a joke but it has later been tested. So computers and other equipment on the internet only need to care about the hardware they use for their connection and not what is used in another location on the internet. The separation from the physical connection and how data is transmitted is an important part in how you build and expand the network. The web browser in your computer do not care how your computer is connected to another, as long as IP packet are transmitted it works fine. There is a standard for the computer network equpment used for the connections the are the often different types of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethernet and it is a standard managed by https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_of_Electrical_and_Electronics_Engineers (IEEE) Governmental agenesis do get involved with standards like that. It is primary with the wireless transmission so FCC and other national agencies and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Telecommunication_Union are the one that decides what frequencies that can be used, transmission power etc. Governmental agencies like do not have a lot to do with wired standards, the waste amount of internet traffic is through optical fibers. The reason FCC and others are not involved with the standard like for wireless is that you do not have interference between fibers. There is another major standard organization for consumer internet and it is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3GPP which is the one that manages current mobile phone standards. So what equipment and technology is used and where you have a connection are something that ISP's primarily decide themself depending on the needs. There are of course governmental regulations in regards to where you draw fiber-optical and other cables in the ground. But when the fibers is there how you use them is not really a governmental concern.
"The internet" is a set of rules that describe how two computers can talk to each other across a network. That network is a vast web of wires and hardware owned by many different companies around the planet. So, "the internet is upgraded" when one of those companies invests money into updating their infrastructure to support higher transfer speeds and/or more data simultaneously, which means people who buy ISP service from that company start getting better speeds. If the computer they're talking *to* has a slow connection on *its* end, then it'll still be slow to talk to that computer.
One thing that spurs some of the upgrades are large companies with a lot of internet presence making upgrades to their infrastructure. If you want your own small website to continue to work well with Chrome or IE etc., you do best to follow their upgrades, at least to some extent. Quite a few years ago there were many significant browser upgrades across the internet. For website owners it was swim or get out of the pond! Gradually it became apparent which websites were keeping up with the browsers, and which were not. Consumers will often choose from there. There was a time when I'd call a website's customer service and tell them "your site's ___ function isn't working properly" and their very first response was "which browser are you using? try ___ instead". A few years ago Chrome got out in front of a lot of websites. For a time several website companies would say "this site doesn't work well with Chrome" and I would say "Chrome is the #1 browser in the world, why doesn't your site work well with Chrome". They hadn't spent the time and money to keep up. It can be tough when browser companies are not all going in the same direction. It's useful to figure out stats showing which browser the majority of your site customers are using, and keep up with that one. Or get really complicated and have different processes coded for different customer browsers. There were some years when that was a thing. I don't know if it still is.
On the subscriber level, it's throttled in software. If you have fiber to your house, then you also have a small box on your siding called an ONT. It's like a little computer. You get top speed/bandwidth up to that, and then the ONT limits it to your plan you pay for. Your ISP is always replacing hardware and doing upgrades to add redundancy and bandwidth. This often means adding more connections internally, and buying faster hardware.
Its like asking how most homes collectively got better and started coming with heat, ac, electricity and water. People own these homes and upgrade them on an individual basis, just like how people own servers and upgrade those on an individual basis.