CPE
- Customer Premises Equipment — The equipment installed at a customer’s premises for
the DSL service, for example a DSL modem.
Desktop
- See Windows desktop.
DHCP
- Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol — A method of assigning a temporary IP address
to a host, such as a computer, connected on a specific network. With dynamic addressing, a
particular host has a different IP address each time it connects to the network.
Digital
- Having discrete values, for example the data represented by binary numbers (0’s and
1’s). Computers communicate using digital data.
DMT
- Discrete Multitone — A method of modulating digital signals over an analog carrier.
DNS
- Domain Name System — This allows you to specify a symbolic name, a meaningful and
easy-to-remember “handle,” instead of an IP address. The DNS is the way that Internet domain
name are located and translated into Internet Protocol addresses.
Domain Name
- The Internet address or the URL of a website.
Downstream
- Data transfer from the telecommunication network to the customer’s premises.
Driver
- A program that a computer uses to control the operation of a peripheral device, such as
a keyboard, modem, monitor, card, or cable.
DSL
- Digital Subscriber Line — A technology that transforms ordinary telephone lines into high-
speed digital lines for fast Internet access. This technology uses a digital coding technique to get
large capacity out of your existing phone line without interfering with regular services — you can
talk on your phone and at the same time surf the Web. Thus DSL provides simultaneous Internet
and voice/fax capabilities over a single telephone line without any interference.
Dynamic IP address
- See DHCP.
Ethernet
- A local-area network (LAN) protocol that supports data transfer rates of 10 Mbps. It is
one of the most widely implemented LAN standards that operates over the twisted pair or coaxial
cable. A version of Ethernet, called 100 Base-T (or fast Ethernet), supports data transfer rates of
100 Mbps.
Ethernet card
- A network interface card that plugs into a computer and allows the computer to
send and receive data to and from a network.
Fast Ethernet
- An Ethernet specification with a speed of 100 Mbps (10 times faster than
10BaseT).
Flash memory
- A non-volatile memory on EEPROM chip, that can be erased and electrically
and reprogrammed.
FTP
- File Transfer Protocol — A high-level protocol for transferring files from one computer to
another.
FTP is one of the basic Internet services.
Glossary
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