POTS Splitter
- The POTS splitter box enables the telephone line — the plain old telephone
service (POTS) — to carry voice signals and digital signals simultaneously. The DSL-enabled line
is connected to the POTS splitter and the splitter provides two outputs — one containing both the
POTS and DSL signals and the other containing only the POTS signals. To install a splitter box, a
technician from your telephone company must visit the user’s home. However, on a dedicated
DSL connection, a splitter box is not required. Also ADSL Lite or ADSL G. Lite does not require
the installation of a splitter box at the user’s premises, and this division is achieved with software
rather than hardware. Thus a visit by a telephone company technician is not required.
PPP
- Point-to-Point Protocol — A communication protocol that allows a computer to be
connected to the Internet.
Protocol
- A set of agreed-upon rules for transmitting data between two devices. From a user’s
point of view, his computer must support the right protocols to make his machine communicate
with other computers.
RADSL
- A Rate Adaptive ADSL technology from Globespan Semiconductors.
Reboot
- When a computer is shut down and restarted, it is rebooting.
RFC 1483
- A standard method used for linking different devices to communicate with each other
across networks and assure “inter-operability.”
RJ-11
- A connector/socket for two pairs (four wires) of twisted pair cable that is used primarily to
connect telephone equipment in the United States.
RJ-45
- A connector/socket for four pairs (eight wires) of twisted pair cable that is used commonly
to connect computers onto a local-area network, especially to the Ethernet. A RJ-45 connector
looks similar to the RJ-11 connector used for connecting a telephone equipment, however RJ-45
is slightly wider than RJ-11.
Router
- A hardware device that connects separate functional networks that use the same or
different protocols. Routers look at the destination addresses on the packets passing through
them and then decide the best route to send them on.
SDSL
- Symmetrical DSL — A DSL technology that provides the same amount of bandwidth (up
to 1.5 Megabits) both upstream and downstream.
Segment
- A physical or logical portion of a network. An Ethernet segment does not cross any
bridge or router, but includes everything up to a bridge or router connection.
Service Provider
- See ISP.
SNMP
- Simple Network Management Protocol — A protocol used commonly for managing
network devices remotely.
Subnet address
- The portion of IP address that identifies the subnet.
Subnet Mask
- A 32-bit address string that is used to identify the bits of an IP address that are
Glossary
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