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Internet Terms/Glossary

10BASE-T The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) specification for Ethernet over unshielded twisted pair cable at 10Mbps.

100BASE-T The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) specification for Ethernet over unshielded twisted pair cable at 100Mbps.

ADSL Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line. High speed technology utilizing existing phone lines to transmit data. Typical speeds are from 144Kbps to over 8Mbps currently. See DSL Types for more info.

ATM Asynchronous Transfer Mode. High Bandwidth packet technology that uses 53 byte fixed sized cells to deliver data, voice and video.

ATU ADSL Transceiver Unit. Equipment used for DSL technology. In the Central Office it is called ATU-C (central) and in the Customer locations it is called ATU-R (remote).

Backbone A central very high speed fiber network that is used to connect smaller, independent networks. Bandwidth A term used to describe the number of bits that can move across a communications system in a given amount of time.

BPS Bits per second. The number of bits passing a point every second. The rate of transmission for digital signals. Broadband Data transmissions of voice, data and video signals over a single medium at high speeds.

CLEC Competitive Local Exchange Carrier. The new competitors to the original Bells after deregulation. See also ILEC.

C.O. Central Office. The building used by telephone companies to connect local users to their infrastructure.

CPE Customer Premises Equipment. Terminating equipment supplied by carrier for use at customer site ie. Modems, phones, routers.

DS3 Digital transmission at 45Mbps, usually operates on fiber optics. Equivalent to 30 T1 circuits.

DSL Digital Subscriber Line. Technology that combines two way voice and data transmissions at very high speeds over normal phone lines. See DSL Flavors and Speeds for more info.

DSLAM Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer. Equipment used in the telephone company Central Office to concentrate local DSL users onto a high capacity Backbone.

DSU Digital Service Unit. Digital device at customer premises to facilitate xDSL service. Also known as a Modem or Router.

Ethernet Term used to describe a baseband LAN specification originally designed by Xerox. IEEE 802.3 describes the current standards for this protocol.

Firewall A secure gateway or virtual wall between two different computer networks that will prevent unauthorized use or access.

Fractional T1 A portion of a T1 circuit that has been divided into 24 separate 64Kbps channels. Actual size is a multiple of 64.

Frame Relay A data communication technology based on packet switching of variable length frames that are protocol independent.

HDSL High bit rate Digital Subscriber Line. See DSL Flavors and Speeds for full definition.

IDSL Integrated Digital Subscriber Line. An ISDN based version of DSL operating at 144 Kbps. See DSL Flavors and Speeds for full definition.

ILEC Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier. All the original Bells are called ILEC's after the Telecommunications Act deregulation. All new competitors are known as CLEC's

ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network. Public circuit switched network that combines voice and data into a single medium. Usually runs at 64K or 128K, predecessor to DSL technology.

ISP Internet Service Provider. Company that provides connection to the Internet typically via a dial-up link

Kbps Kilo Bits Per Second. A measure of time relating to telecommunications speeds. One kilobit is 1,000 bits of information, the higher the number the faster the transmission speed.

LAN Local Area Network. A data communications networks of computers, printers, file servers, etc.. in a local environment.

Local Loop Also called the "last mile". The length of telephone wire from the local Central Office to it's final termination at customer premises. Usually about 1-3 miles or less.

Mbps Mega Bits Per Second. Like Kbps a measure of transmission rates. One Megabit equals 1,000,000 bits of information. 1.5Mbps is over 50 times faster than a 28.8 Kbps dial-up Modem.

NIC Network Interface Card. The hardware that handles the protocol conversion between your computer and a connected network. Used in DSL service to talk to router.

POTS Plain Old Telephone Service. As it sounds, your basic telephone service.

Repeater Electronic device used to regenerate and enhance signal quality over long cable distances.

Router Electronic device that transmits and receives data packets in a network.

SDSL Symmetrical Digital Subscriber Line. See DSL Flavors and Speeds for full definition.

T1 Digital transmission at 1.544Mbps. T1 is the most common transmission technique used in North America.

T3 Digital transmission at 45Mbps. Basically 30 T1 circuits.

TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. Open communication protocol that allows computers with different operating systems to communicate with each other on the Internet.

VPN Virtual Private Network. A network service that is provided over a public network that is secure and works like a private network.

WAN Wide Area Network. A network with devices over a wide geographical area.

xDSL Refers to all variations of the DSL family or technologies.

From http://www.dslx.net/faq.html

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