Dont Delay
Register Today

Marden is a large village we believe we should have Broadband if you think the same register

REGISTERING DOES NOT MEAN YOU HAVE TO ORDER.. IT JUST SHOWS YOUR INTERESTED

YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE -- Except that slow 56k modem :)

What These Funny Terms Mean

This broadband stuff can get to be quite confusing. So if you've read something on this site and wondered "What does that mean?" then maybe this glossary can help.

10baseT: a common form of network cabling that users twisted-pair, telephone lines.

Bandwidth: A measure, in some amount of bits per second, of the amount of data that can be sent over a particular cable, interface, or bus.

Broadband: Broadband is a term that applies to the technologies associated with high speed Internet access such as ADSL, G.lite, and cable modems.

Cable modem: A "Cable Modem" is a device that allows high-speed data access (such as to the Internet) via a cable TV network. A cable modem will typically have two connections, one to the cable wall outlet and the other to a computer (PC).

Contention Ratio: 
With ADSL some of the bandwidth is shared between other users. For example, if the service is contended or "oversubscribed" at 20:1, it means that you share the bandwidth with up to 19 other users. Thus the performance of an ADSL connection will vary according to time of day and time of week, depending on how many other users happen to be online at that moment.
"Basic" ADSL services in the UK (mainly using the British Telecom Network) typically have a contention ratio of 50:1 with the more expensive/business packages having 20:1.

DHCP: -Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol.
An ISP can either issue a fixed IP address (i.e. it doesn't change between connections to the Internet) or you'll be assigned a variable address every time you connect. For a variable address, every time you connect your DHCP software asks the ISP for a temporary or leased IP.
Most ISP's provide you with a variable IP address and therefore require DHCP enabled on your computer.
All Microsoft products have built in DHCP software.

DNS: -Domain Name Service.
An Internet server that turns your human readable address (e.g. www.microsoft.com) into an IP number.

DSL: (Digital Subscriber Line) -- A high-speed Internet connection using existing phone lines. While some phone line upgrades are needed, a DSL connection does not require that you install an additional phone line to utilize DSL technology.

DOCSIS: -Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification.
An agreed "standard" for how Cable Modems should work.
DOCSIS specifies downstream traffic tranfer rates between 27 and 36 Mbps over a radio frequency (RF) path in the 50 MHz to 750+ MHz range, and upstream traffic tranfer rates between 320 Kbps and 10 Mbps over a RF path between 5 and 42 MHz. But, because data over cable travels on a shared loop, individuals will see tranfer rates drop as more users gain access.

Encryption: The process of converting data into "unreadable code" so that prying eyes cannot understand the content. Encryption is necessary as valuable and sensitive information is often sent from one computer to another via a network that technically can be accessed by anybody. It provides a degree of security should the information fall into the wrong hands.

Ethernet: A common method of networking computers in a LAN. Ethernet can handle about 10,000,000 bits-per-second and can be used with almost any kind of computer.

G.lite: G.Lite is a reduced-speed variant of ADSL that supports maximum transfer rates of 1.5Mbps downstream and 512Kbps upstream under ideal conditions. G.lite is designed to be less expensive and easier to install and use than full-rate ADSL.

HDSL: High bit-rate Digital Subscriber Line. It is a high speed symmetrical Internet connection using existing phone lines. Since it is symmetrical, the bandwidth is the same for upstream and downstream transmission.

IP: -Internet Protocol
A "transport" networking layer. An "application" layer "sits" on top to provide either reliable/in sequence connection (TCP) or, for speed non-reliable/out of sequence connections (e.g. Streaming Meda) UDP.
IP is known as "routable" meaning that it can travel across many different networks and doesn't care about platform (e.g. UNIX or Windows).
An IP address is your unique identifier when connected to the Internet. It consists of four numbers separated by a period (e.g. 195.234.3.80). Each number must be between 0 and 255.

ISDN: Integrated Services Digital Network. ISDN lines allow users to digitally transmit information over regular copper phone wires. ISDN lines support transfer rates up to 128Kbps.

ISP: Internet Service Provider
A company that will provide you with a connection to the Internet.

Modem: (MOdulator, DEModulator) A device that you connect to your computer and to a phone line, that allows the computer to "talk" to other computers through the phone system. Basically, modems do for computers what a telephone does for humans.

NAT: -Network Address Translation.
NAT is like a funnel.
Simply put, NAT is a way translating one IP address into another. For example, using NAT you could have just one real IP address (the one connected to the Internet) and use this to service connections to a private network (e.g. an IP address that is not used on the Internet). NAT is used in MS Internet Connection Sharing (Windows 98 SE+/2000).
ADSL providers like NAT because it cuts down on the number or real IP addresses that they must buy. Using NAT, one real IP can service up to 256 private connections. The downside of NAT is that some software doesn't work well with it. For example, MSN gaming Zone or ICQ sometimes has problems with NAT.
NAT is totally different from routing (routing needs real IP addresses to work).

Network Interface Card: Also known as a NIC. A Network Interface Card plugs into a computer and allows the computer to interface with the appropriate standard of the network.

PCI plug-in card: (Peripheral Connect Interface ) This interface was designed to supplant the VL-Bus architecture and provide a standard slot with a reduced size for high-speed peripherals. It normally runs at 33 MHz on a PC, but can run faster. PCI slots are 32-bit slots, like EISA or VL-BUS, but in a compact form factor.

Ports:
For each IP address, you can establish many connections at the same time. Each connection is made to the same IP address using a different port. Some examples are Port 80 for browsing the web and 25 for sending mail.

Splitter: a device that splits a single network port into many.

TCP: -Transmission Control Protocol
Information goes back and forth on the Internet in packets made up of the data, it's sender identifier, a recipient identifier and error checking data. TCP is called a connection protocol as it provides reliable data transfer. Reliable means that the data arrives in-tact and in the correct sequence otherwise it is asked to be sent again. These requests for data to be re-transmitted mean a slower but more relibale connection than UDP.

UDP: -User Datagram Protocol
Similar to TCP except that no re-transmissions are requested for faulty data. UDP is known as a connectionless protocol and mainly used for non-critical applications that require speed but not reliability (e.g. Streaming media, games etc.).

USB: (Universal Serial Bus) A newer technology replacing the way that some peripheral devices connect to computers. Much faster than serial and parallel communications, it is also much more flexible and able to connect to several devices simultaneously.

V.90: an error checking routine for modems.

VDSL: Very high data rate Digital Subscriber Line. It is a developing technology that promises very high data rates (possibly 51Mbps) by transmitting over short reaches of copper telephone lines. The actual speed will be determined by the length of the lines.