EG102 User’s Guide
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Appendix C – 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
