Touchstone TM401 Telephony Modem User’s Guide
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Safety
Getting Started
Installation
Ethernet Configuration
Usage
Troubleshooting
Glossary
Glossary
The following is a list of common cable and networking terms.
Terms and Abbreviations
Category 5 (Cat5)
A high-quality type of cable, used for Fast Ethernet (100BaseT) connec-
tions. When purchasing Ethernet cables, always look for Category 5 cable.
Coaxial cable (coax)
A thin wire, used to connect your television and Telephony Modem to the
cable TV system. You can buy coax from any electronics retailer and many
discount stores.
CPE
Customer Premise Equipment. This is the equipment that is plugged in to
the telephony modem; typically a computer, hub, or router.
Cross-over
An Ethernet cable used to connect two hubs (or a hub and a cable modem)
together. Also, some Ethernet hubs may have built-in cross-over on one or
more ports (which eliminates the need for a cross-over cable).
DHCP
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. An IP protocol used to provide an IP
address and location of services (such as DNS and TFTP) needed by a
device connecting to the network. DHCP allows the cable company to con-
figure your computer’s networking software for you.
DNS
Domain Name Service (Server). An IP service that associates a domain
name (such as www.example.com) with an IP address.
Downstream
In an HFC network, the direction from the head-end to the subscriber.
Some older cable documentation may refer to this as the forward path.
