Chapter 7: Glossary
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7
Glossary
10BASE-T
A designation for the type of wiring used by Ethernet networks with a data
rate of 10 Mbps. Also known as Category 3 (CAT 3) wiring.
See
data rate,
Ethernet
.
100BASE-T
A designation for the type of wiring used by Ethernet networks with a data
rate of 100 Mbps. Also known as Category 5 (CAT 5) wiring. See
data rate,
Ethernet
.
ADSL
Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line
The most commonly deployed "flavor" of
DSL for home users is
asymmetrical DSL. The term asymmetrical refers to its unequal data rates
for downloading and uploading (the download rate is higher than the
upload rate). The asymmetrical rates benefit home users because they
typically download much more data from the Internet than they upload.
Analog
An analog signal is a signal that has had its frequency modified in some
way, such as by amplifying its strength or varying its frequency, in order to
add information to the signal. The voice component in DSL is an analog
signal. See
digital
.
ATM
Asynchronous Transfer Mode
A standard for high-speed transmission of data, text, voice, and video,
widely used within the Internet. ATM data rates range from 45 Mbps to 2.5
Gbps. See
data rate
.
authenticate
To verify a user’s identity, such as by prompting for a password.
binary
The "base two" system of numbers, that uses only two digits, 0 and 1, to
represent all numbers. In binary, the number 1 is written as 1, 2 as 10, 3
as 11, 4 as 100, etc. Although expressed as decimal numbers for
convenience, IP addresses in actual use are binary numbers; e.g., the IP
address 209.191.4.240 is 11010001.10111111.00000100.11110000 in
binary. See
bit, IP address, network mask
.
bit
Short for "binary digit," a bit is a number that can have two values, 0 or 1.
See
binary
.
bps
bits per second
bridging
Passing data from your network to your ISP and vice versa using the
hardware addresses of the devices at each location. Bridging contrasts with
routing, which can add more intelligence to data transfers by using
network addresses instead. The CopperJet can perform both routing and
bridging. Typically, when both functions are enabled, the device routes IP
data and bridges all other types of data. See
routing
.
broadband
A telecommunications technology that can send different types of data
over the same medium. DSL is a broadband technology.
broadcast
To send data to all computers on a network.
channel
The channel number determines which channel frequency is used by the
device to pass wireless traffic to wireless PCs. The channels available
depend on which country the wireless network is operating in. Your ISP
provides details of the channel(s) you should use.