As a typical client, when using the Lightning network you open a channel with a peer, which requires an on-chain (slow) transaction and locks up funds. If you d

As a typical client, when using the Lightning network you open a channel with a peer, which requires an on-chain (slow) transaction and locks up funds. If you don't wish to do this with every single person you want to transact with, then you select a peer who is a major node (exchange, payment processor, etc.) who already has channels with the other major nodes. This will allow you to quickly route payments to anyone affiliated with the large network. This is why it is like an ISP layer-2 solution. IP packets route through the internet in a similar way.