Glossary

512k connection
A high speed broadband connection allowing for maximum download speeds of 512kbps. This is approximately 10 times faster than a standard 56k dial up modem.

1Mb connection
A high speed broadband connection allowing for maximum download speeds of 1Mbps. This is approximately 20 times faster than a standard 56k dial up modem.

2Mb connection
A high speed broadband connection allowing for maximum download speeds of 2Mbps. This is approximately 40 times faster than a standard 56k dial up modem.

100Base-T
Standard twisted pair cabling that connects computers on a network. It’s name is derived from the maximum throughput of this type of infrastructure – 100 Mbps. 100Base-T is also referred to as "Fast Ethernet”.

802.11b and 802.11g
Technical specifications for wireless computing. These are industry wide standards for transferring data around a computer network via the use of radio waves.

802.3
This is the industry specification for Ethernet connections

Activation
Activation allows for an existing telephone line to receive data (broadband) and voice telephone calls at the same time. Your phone line must be activated at your local telephone exchange for you to be able to receive broadband.

ADSL
This is an abbreviation of Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line and the term is used interchangeably with “broadband”. ADSL is a data communications technology that allows for the faster transfer of data across standard copper telephone lines than a conventional dial up modem can manage. ADSL provides a high speed, always on connection that can carry both data and voice. The term “asymmetric” is used because the data being carried along the line moves faster one way than the other. In other words, downloading is faster the uploading.

Anti-virus software
Anti-virus software provides you with a high degree of protection against malicious code manufactured by the virus writer to cause maximum disruption to you. Before connecting to the Internet you should ensure that you always have an up to date anti-virus package and you should be suspicious about downloading files from an untrustworthy source.

Bandwidth
This is a term dictating how fast you can send and receive data using your connection. A standard analogy is to imagine your Internet connection is a pipe, the wider the pipe, the faster the information will pass through. Contention ratios are important when evaluating bandwidth.

Broadband
This is the standard term for a high speed Internet connection that can be used interchangeably with the terms ADSL.

Burstable
The ability to increase the throughput of your broadband connection for determined times should you require an increase in speed. For example, if you are downloading a large file.

CAT5
Category 5 is a type of network cable.

CBT
An acronym for Constant Bit Rate.

CHAP
An acronym for Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol.

Contention Ratio
This describes the maximum number of users sharing the bandwidth on the broadband connection between your local exchange and your broadband provider. Standard contention ratios are 50:1 and 20:1. If you had a 50:1 connection ratio it would mean that at any one time you would never be sharing your bandwidth with more than 49 other users. Therefore, the lower the contention rate the better.

CRC
This is an acronym for Cyclic Redundancy Check.

DACS
An acronym for Digital Access Carrier System.

DHCP
An acronym for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol.

Dial Up
Dial-up Internet access was the original method of connecting to the Internet for the mass market via connecting by a phone line. Transfer speeds were a maximum of 56k and it was not possible to connect to the Internet and make telephone calls simultaneously.

DNS
An acronym for the Domain Name System.

DSL
DSL is an acronym for Digital Subscriber Line. This is a method of transmitting data over telephone lines prevalent in the United States. The UK uses a variant called ADSL for providing broadband to users.

DSLAM
An acronym for Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer. This is a function that aggregates broadband connections into one main link on the Internet backbone.

Dynamic IP address
This is an IP address that changes each time you connect to the Internet.

Encryption
Encryption is a method of hiding content from non-permitted users. Only permitted users will have the correct key to unlock the content. An example of this is PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) a popular program for typically encrypting email messages.

Ethernet
Ethernet is the most popular form of local area network (LAN) technology.

Extranet
An extranet is essentially an intranet that can be accessed by computers outside the network but is not available to the general public.

Firewall
A firewall can be implemented through hardware or software and will help to prevent the unauthorised access of your computer by unauthorised users.

Gateway
This is another term for router. See router definition below.

Gateway address
This is the IP address used when a connection outside your network is commenced.

Installation
The method for configuring your computer to accept broadband. There are two main methods, wires only or fully installed by an engineer. The wires only installation is the cheapest option and means you need to manually configure your broadband. The fully installed option will need to be completed by an engineer and as such will often be more expensive and take longer to complete.

Intranet
This is a private network/site set up for a subset of authorised users, often in a corporate environment.

IP address
IP address stands for Internet Protocol address and they are maintained overall by IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority). These addresses take the form 192.0.34.163 and designate the existence of a host. If your broadband provider gives you a static IP address, you will only ever connect to the Internet using this IP address. Websites consist of IP addresses, which are mapped to domain names to make sites easier to remember by human users.

ISDN
This stands for Integrated Services Digital Network. ISDN is a service that is between dial up and ADSL in terms of speed. It is mostly used in geographic areas that do not have the infrastructure to accommodate ADSL and an average connection speed would be 128kbps.

ISP/Broadband Provider
An acronym for Internet Service Provider. This is the company that is supplying you with your broadband service.

Kbps
This acronym stands for Kilobits per second (1 kilobit per second is equal to 1,000 bits per second).

L2TP
An acronym for Layer 2 Tunnelling Protocol

LAN
This stands for Local Area Network and refers to a network confined to a confined area.

Login or logon
This is a system of authenticating yourself usually by inputting a user name and password.

Mbps
An acronym for megabits per second.

Micro filter
A micro filter acts as a splitter and plugs into your telephone socket. This reduces interference on fax or telephone calls when a broadband connection is present by splitting the normal line frequencies into one band for telephone use and another for broadband use.

Modem
This is an acronym derived from the words modulator and demodulator by taking the “mo” and “dem” from the words. A modem is a piece of hardware that is used to connect computers to the Internet.

MSO
An acronym for Major Service Outage.

MSF
An acronym for Major Service Fault.

NAT
NAT stands for Network Address Translation. This is a configuration that provides extra security on the Internet.

Network adapter
A network adaptor can also be referred to as a "network interface card" (NIC) and it provides network access to a specific device such as a printer.

NTE
An acronym for Network Terminating Equipment

Packet
A packet is a unit of data transmitted from one device on a network to another. Sending packets of information is often used as a test – if there is packet loss there is a problem.

PBX
An acronym for a Private Branch Exchange

Peer-to-peer (P2P) network
This is a network that does not rely on a central server to store information. The information is distributed between a number of computers.

PING
A PING is a digital request to see if a system is live. The speed of the response to the PING determines the speed of the system and whether it actually exists.

PPP
An acronym for Point to Point Protocol.

PPPoA
PPP over ATM is the standard delivery method for ADSL servers.

PPPoE
An acronym for PPP over Ethernet.

PSTN
An acronym for a Public Switched Telephone Network.

RADIUS
An acronym for Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service.

Rate Adaptive Digital Subscriber Line
This is an improved broadband technology, which extends the reach of the current copper wire telephone system from 3.5 km to 5.5km from a DSL exchange. This means that more users can benefit from ADSL as the reach is extended.

RJ-11 connector
This is a network cable connection that joins a phone line to a modem/router.

RJ-45 connector
This is the small rectangular ended plug that can be found at each end of an Ethernet cable.

Router
A router is a device that is an intermediary between a computer and the Internet, which determines where data is sent. A number of computers can be configured to share a router and hardware firewalls are often incorporated as standard. Routers can also be known as gateways.

Satellite broadband
Satellite broadband is connectivity provided via a satellite in orbit. This is often extremely expensive and is a last resort for users in extremely remote areas.

SDSL
SDSL stands for Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line, which is a broadband connection, used to transmit high-bandwidth information over ordinary telephone lines. With SDSL the upstream and downstream is identical hence the “symmetric” definition. Due to this fact, this form of broadband is popular with business users.

SMDS
An acronym that stands for Symmetric Multi-Megabit Data Service.

Static IP address
This is an IP address that is allocated to you that does not change each time you access the Internet. You can use a static IP address to run an email server or even host a website, however, virtual hosting is very inexpensive so it would be most advisable to obtain a proper hosting solution.

TCP/IP
An acronym for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol.

USB
Stands for Universal Serial Bus. USB along with Ethernet are used to connect most ADSL modems to a computer.

VCI
An acronym for Virtual Channel Identifier.

Video conferencing
This solution provides real time video and audio to a distributed number of participants simultaneously.

Virtual Server
This is a web server that often hosts thousands of websites simultaneously. The price of virtual hosting can be as low as a couple of pounds per month.

Virtual Private Network
A virtual private network is used to secure communications between two sources over the Internet.

Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
This is a new technology that enables broadband users to send voice calls via the Internet. There are now a number of these services in operation and call can be made free of charge.

VPI
An acronym for a Virtual Path Identifier.

WAN
This stands for Wide Area Network. Whereas a LAN is a small network, a WAN is a widespread network that may include a number of linked LAN’s.

WEP
This is an acronym for Wired Equivalent Privacy. This is the form of encryption used for wireless networks to prevent unauthorised users entering the wireless network.

Wi-Fi
This stands for Wireless Fidelity and means the connection of two network devices wirelessly. The most common connections are via 802.11.b, which can cope with 11Mb per second and 802.11.g, which can cope with up to 54Mb per second. Actual speed will depend on distance between devices and the nature of any obstacles in the path such as walls and ceilings, which will reduce signal intensity.

Wireless access point
A wireless access point is an intermediary device that exchanges information between various configured wireless devices.

Wireless WAN
Similar to a standard WAN, but conducted wirelessly.

WLAN
Stands for Wireless Local Area Network. This describes a local network that works exclusively without wires.

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