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your home network is the location of the DNS server your ISP has assigned to
you.
DSL Modem:
DSL stands for Digital Subscriber Line. A DSL modem uses your
existing phone lines to transmit data at high speeds.
Ethernet:
A standard for computer networks. Ethernet networks are
connected by special cables and hubs, and move data around at up to 10/100
million bits per second (Mbps).
IP Address and Network (Subnet) Mask:
IP stands for Internet Protocol. An IP
address consists of a series of four numbers separated by periods, that
identifies a single, unique Internet computer host in an IP network. Example:
192.168.2.1. It consists of 2 portions: the IP network address, and the host
identifier.
The IP address is a 32-bit binary pattern, which can be represented as four
cascaded decimal numbers separated by “.”: aaa.aaa.aaa.aaa, where each
“aaa” can be anything from 000 to 255, or as four cascaded binary number
s
separated by “.”: bbbbbbbb.bbbbbbbb.bbbbbbbb.bbbbbbbb, where each “b”
can either be 0 or 1.
A network mask is also a 32-bit binary pattern, and consists of consecutive
leading
1’s followed by consecutive trailing 0’s, such as
11111111.11111111.11111111.00000000. Therefore sometimes a network
mask can also be described simply as “x” number of leading 1’s.
When both are represented side by side in their binary forms, all bits in the IP
address that correspond to 1’s in the network mask become part of the I
P
network address, and the remaining bits correspond to the host ID.
For example, if the IP address for a device is, in its binary form,
11011001.10110000.1001
0000.00000111, and if its network mask is,
11111111.11111111.11110000.00000000
It means the dev
ice’s network address is
11011001.10110000.1001
0000.00000000, and its host ID is,
00000000.00000000.00000000.00000111
. This is a convenient and efficient
method for access points to route IP packets to their destination.
ISP Gateway Address:
(see ISP for definition). The ISP Gateway Address is an
IP address for the Internet access point located at the ISP's office.