6381-A4 Router Users Guide
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Appendix A – Glossary
Term
Description
802.11
A family of specifications for wireless
LANs developed by a working group of the IEEE. This wireless Ethernet
protocol, often called Wi-Fi.
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 device 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.
