Broadband Jargon Explained: A Glossary

Slang and buzzwords are very common in the broadband market and the jargon may not be easy to understand for people using broadband for the first time. Some of the important things for you to know so that you can get the best usage from your broadband connection are:

ADSL—Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line is technology that allows ordinary copper telephone lines to move data faster.

Anti-spam—Spam is like junk mail and enters your email inbox along with your legitimate email. Anti-spam is software that will protect your computer from unwanted email if you use an email client such as Microsoft Outlook. If you receive your email online at Yahoo, Gmail or other place, that company will have built-in anti-spam software.

Anti-spyware—Spyware is used for identity theft and users can steal your personal information without your knowledge or consent. It can also alter your settings and greatly slow down your computer. Many anti-virus packages also include anti-spyware.

Anti-virus—is software that should protect your computer from malicious internet transfers that are called viruses, Trojan horses and worms. These can do a lot of damage to your computer as well as steal your identity. With a broadband connection you need some type of anti-virus software. There are free programs available online, but paid programs may offer more protection.

Bandwidth—is the rate of successfully transferring data through a communication path. This means the amount of data that can be transmitted within a certain time.

Contention Ratio—is the maximum number of users on a bandwidth that will allow for the highest speed. If the users are too many, the speed available on the bandwidth becomes less.

Download speed— is how quickly your computer receives data from your broadband connection. This includes email, accessing a webpage, live streaming of a television show or computer programs that are online for you to download. Whatever you receive from the internet is downloaded and whatever you send from your computer is uploaded.

Fibre Optic Cable—is plastic or glass threads or fibres that are bundled together in a tube. Each fibre can transmit digital data modulated into light waves. It has a much larger bandwidth than metal cable so it can carry much more data.

Firewall—a firewall will stop any data that arrives from the internet to your computer that does not meet the settings allocated to it. This is essential for protecting your computer. A good firewall is necessary for anyone with broadband and is sometimes included in an anti-virus bundle that also contains anti-spyware and anti-spam software programs.

Fixed-line—is broadband that comes to your home through cables. The cables are either Virgin Media cables or BT telephone lines. This is different from mobile broadband which is wireless and uses a mobile signal network.

Gigabit (Gb)—Gb is a unit that describes the speed at which data passes through an internet connection. It is also written as gigabits per second Gbps. Broadband connections are measured in megabits per second Mbps. One Gb contains 1024Mb.

Gigabyte (GB)—is the memory storage capacity and size of a computer file.
• a kilobyte (KB) has 1024 bytes
• a megabyte (MB) has 1024 kilobytes
• a gigabyte (GB) has 1024 megabytes
These file measurements are used for different types and sizes of files. A notepad file is measured in bytes, a Word document is measured in kilobytes, a music file is measured in megabytes and a DVD film in gigabytes.

IM—is instant messaging which is software that allows people to type messages to each other in real time. Called a chat, there are many different email accounts and social messaging sites that offer free IM.

ISP— Your Internet Service Provider is the company that gives you the internet connection. For example, if your internet service comes through the BT lines, your bill will come from O2. O2 is your ISP.

Kilobit (Kb)—describes internet speeds. It is also written as kilobits per second (Kbps). It is a term that was used for dial-up connections which have been mostly replaced by broadband in the UK. It is still used for slower uploads and downloads. One Mb is 1024Kb.

MAC—means Migration Authentication Code in the UK and is a 17 to 19 character identifier code that is unique to each customer. It is used when the customer wants to change their internet service provider.

Modem—an electronic device that can be wired, wireless or serve both. It decodes data that comes to and from computers and changes the computer codes into sounds that are sent from one computer to another.

MP3—is a digitised version of music that can be downloaded to a hard drive and played on the computer or an MP3 player.

Router—a router is a device that forwards packets of data in networks. It is connected to at least two and usually more networks, so each user in the network can access the same information.

Upload speed—is how quickly your computer sends data to another computer. This includes emails, attachments, photos and documents.

USB stick—or dongle for mobile broadband, is portable storage space for your files that can be carried with you and plugged into another computer to view, work on or download information.

Webmail—such as Gmail, Yahoo and Hotmail are programs that store personal email online. You can access your email from any computer.

Wi-Fi and WLAN—is wireless internet access from an electronic device that has been certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance so it will work with other Wi-Fi products.

Some terms for mobile broadband are:

3G and 4G are how mobile phones access the internet as well as mobile broadband devices.

Capping is a limit or cap that is set by the contract for mobile broadband access. Exceeding this cap will result in excess charges.

High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) is the latest technology for increasing the speed of mobile broadband internet connections.

Mi-Fi is a wireless router for mobile broadband. It does not plug into your computer is stands alone.