Backhaul: The link from the cable head to (usually) the International Switching centre. Data is linked back to a network backbone i.e. the ESB figure of 8 network or to an Eircom exchange.
Base Station: A facility to house equipment to deliver wireless services, e.g. mobile phone.
Broadband involves a range of technologies like cable modems, ADSL, wireless data and ATM. It basically opens up the networks to provide virtually unlimited bandwidth. The most complex multimedia content comes streaming down the line as fast as you can click. Broadband means having much more speed to move your data - much more than you can get out of a conventional 56K modem. The IIA is championing broadband for small businesses.
Byte The smallest number of bits that a computer can handle in one unit. There are eight bits in a byte. The number of bytes in a file can give you a rough idea as to how long it's going to take information to download from the Internet. Anything over 1MB (a million bytes) is a big file and will take some time to reach you if you're using an ordinary 56Kbit/s modem usually only manages around 33Kbit/s. With broadband, big files are just a click away.
Central Facility: The facility where the local telephone exchange, switch equipment, etc is located and is often referred to as a PoP (Point of Presence)
Download /Upload To bring files down from the Internet and put them on your hard drive so that you can work on them locally (download) or to send files from your machine to other Internet users (upload).
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL): A family of technologies generically referred to as DSL or xDSL that are capable of transforminga normal telephone line into a high-speed digital line .DSL lines are capable of supporting services such as fast Internet access and video or TV on demand.
Ducts: The tubes through which cables are laid
Fibre Optic Cable A transmission medium that uses glass or plastic fibres rather than copper wire to transport data or voice signals. The signal is imposed on the fibres via pulses(modulation) of light from a laser or light-emitting diode (LED). Because of its high bandwidth and lack of susceptibility of interference, fibre optic cable is used in long-haul or noisy applications .
Fibre Optic Ring Network: A network built in a ring configuration in order to ensure that, if one segment of the network is damaged or cut, traffic can be re-routed in the opposite direction.
IP Internet Protocol. The method for moving information from one network to another on the Internet. An IP address uniquely identifies every site on the Internet. For ease of use, IP addresses are now translated into more meaningful web addresses (URLs).
ISDN Stands for Integrated Services Digital Network and provides dial-up services at up to twice the speed of standard telephone connections. ISDN has provided a fast-access option in the run up to broadband over the past few years, but is now expensive and difficult to use by broadband modem and ADSL standards.
ISP Internet Service Provider, a company that uses one or more servers to give you access to the web. The best ISPs offer much more than this - including web site design, web hosting and technical support.
Kilobit/byte Means about 1,000, or to be exact, 1,024 bits or bytes. A 56Kbit/s modem runs at a maximum speed of 57,344 bits a second. A 5KB file contains more than 5,000 bytes of information. You can also have megabits/bytes (more than a million), gigabits/bytes (more than 100 million) and terabits/bytes (more than 1,000 million). A cable modem can process up to 2 million bits per second.
Local Loop The portion of the network between the customer premise and the telephone company’s point of presence, also referred to as “the last mile” or the “local loop” The access network today is primarily twisted-pair cooper wiring, but can also consist of fibre or may be provisioned via wireless connections
MAN: (Metropolitan area Network) a telecommunications term used to describe a network serving a business and residences in an urban area.
Node: A point of connection on a network
Protocol A language that two computers understand, where the sender and receiver exchange and recognise certain signals such as 'go ahead', 'got it'. Protocols make the internet work.
Resilience: The ability to provide a backup service in the event of a disruption or breakdown.
Router A piece of kit, which controls traffic between networks, such as the smart box that moves data between private networks and the Internet
Wireless technology - radio There are two ways to use wireless for Internet access. It can only do it via 'line of sight', so it's a little like connecting to the web by light - very fast but a limited range (up to about five kilometres), and transmission would be interrupted if something got in the way. For this reason, it usually runs from roof to roof but is highly useful as a tool to economically deliver broadband speeds to people in remote or hard rock areas where laying cable would be too expensive.
Voice over IP: A method delivering voice over Internet and data networks.