Packet switching is a technique that divides a message into smaller units, sends those packets to their destination by the best route available, and reassembles the packets at the receiving end. This technology made the Internet possible. In "Economic FAQs about the Internet" by Jeffrey K. MacKie-Mason and Hal R. Varian at www.sims.berkeley.edu/resources/infoecon/FAQs/FAQs.html, you can read the section on Internet Technology that explains how packet switching works, how it differs from circuit switching, and why data networks use packet switching. The Packet Switching Web site at www.erg.abdn.ac.uk/
users/gorry/eg3561/intro-pages/ps.html includes diagrams that make the packet switching process easy to understand, along with a discussion of the details. If you find it easier to understand and retain information that you listen to, as opposed to read, Circuit Switching versus Packet Switching at www.seas.upenn.edu/~tcom500/over2/cs_vs_ps.html includes an audio file of a 15-minute lecture.
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