Rural Broadband

ADSL stands for Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line. ADSL is the technology developed to enable broadband connections using existing telephone networks; by transforming a standard telephone line into an always on high-speed, internet connection that is capable of carrying voice and data together at the same time.

Bandwidth is the amount of data that can be transmitted and received over an Internet connection at any one time. Bandwidth is usually measured in bits per second (bps). Broadband connections are normally at least 256kbps and can be up to as high as 8Mbps or more; compared to the standard phone line connections that are up to 56kbps.

Broadband is a high-speed Internet connection that works at high speeds because it has a greater bandwidth. Broadband connections are in general about ten times faster than a standard dial-up connection. There are different technologies that Broadband can be delivered via and they are Cable, Satellite, Leased Lines, Power line and DSL. Because of the high speed of broadband, it is delivering more on-demand content that is allowing Internet users the freedom to choose what they want to watch, read, and listen to, whenever they want.

A broadband phone is a phone or other device that allows you to make and receive calls like a normal telephone via the Internet, using the IP protocol. It is known as Voice over IP (VoIP) and is usually connected through either ADSL or Cable router. There are some terrific digital telephones and USB (Universal Serial Bus) phones that look, sound and feel like a conventional phone and simply plug into your USB port. Calls are a lot cheaper than normal telephone and mobile telephone calls, and Internet users are making the most of it and slashing their bills.

Cable is the name given to telephone, broadband and television services that are carried to your home by means of fibre optic cable that is buried underground.

The contention ratio is the number of other users sharing the bandwidth on the connection between your local exchange and the Internet Service Provider. The quality and speed of the Internet connection will depend on how many other users are online at the same time. For example: if the contention ratio is 20:1 then up to 19 other users will share your bandwidth whereas if the contention ratio is 50:1 then you will share bandwidth with up to 49 other users.

A dial-up connection uses a normal telephone line to connect to the Internet. A modem is used to 'dial' the number of your Internet service provider (ISP) and communicate with their computers.

The transferring of files from the Internet to your computer is known as Downloading.

DSL stands for Digital Subscriber Line, and is a broadband technology that is more affordable for home users and small businesses. You can use the Internet and telephone at the same time because DSL Broadband runs over the existing copper cables at a different frequency to normal telephone conversations. Depending on the DSL technology and service level implemented, download speeds will generally range between 128 Kbps and 24,000 Kbps. Upload speeds are lower than download speed for ADSL, and equal to download speed for SDSL.

High Speed Modem is a hardware that is required to receive broadband services, as it is capable of a much higher rate of data transfer than a conventional 56kbps modem.

Instant messaging is a way of communicating with another Internet user by way of simple text-based chat (typing conversation into the chat box).

IP stands for Internet Protocol. Every computer on the Internet has a unique numerical IP address, assigned to it by the Internet Service Provider. The same as your home address uniquely identifies where you live, an IP address uniquely identifies a specific computer or other network device on a network. IP addresses are written as four numbers that are separated by periods, with each number being between 0 (zero) and 255. An example of an IP address could be 1.234.56.78

ISP stands for Internet Service Provider, it is the company that provides the Internet connections to both private customers and businesses.

Kbps stands for kilobits per second, and describes the amount of data that is transferred between computers.

Leased lines are set up by a telecommunications common carrier, and are mainly used by businesses to connect offices that have long distances between them; via a permanent telephone connection between two points. As well as always being active, leased lines are quite an expensive form of broadband, with a fixed monthly fee, that is charged according to the distance between points and also the speed of the circuit. But he carrier can assure a high quality connection, because the lines are not shared with anyone else.

maxDSL is basically getting the maximum (fastest) broadband speed available to you using the current UK telephone network supplied by BT broadband, while still maintaining a stable connection. MaxDSL will not only give faster downstream but upstream speeds will also get a boost and the maximum speed that you will be able to get will be rate adaptive.

Mbps stands for megabits per second, and describes the amount of data that is transferred between computers. One megabit is approximately 1000 kilobits.

Midband is a term used by some Internet service providers for a slower broadband service of 128kbps, which is the same speed as a dual-ISDN line.

MP3 is an audio file format, commonly used for sharing music files on the Internet. It uses software that compresses the file to make it smaller without much quality reduction.

A network card is a piece of hardware that allows computer users to connect to each other's computers using cables, and forming a network. It also allows certain types of modem to be connected to your computer.

Plug-In is special software that interacts with a main application providing a specific function. It helps to view certain types of pages or documents, such as an email program or web browser on the Internet and most plug-ins are available for free.

Power line is a broadband technology where the connection to the Internet is made using your power lines. The carrier can communicate voice and data by superimposing an analog signal over the standard alternating current (AC). Power lines can deliver Broadband at much higher speed than DSL, but unfortunately is not available everywhere in the UK.

RADSL stands for Rate Adaptive Digital Subscriber Line and is a variation of ADSL technology. When connecting, the ADSL modem splits the upstream and downstream sections of the spectrum into sections known as bins, and tries to use as many as possible. The line goes faster with the more bins that are available.

Rate adaptive means that when using maxDSL your maximum connection speed is determined by the quality of your line. The exchange will have some equipment installed, this is known as RAMBO, and is used to monitor your line performance and adjusts connection speed accordingly.

Satellite broadband is a two-way Internet access via satellites that requires a satellite dish to sit on top of your home or business. Through a satellite modem your computer, will broadcasts requests to the dish that sends and receives signals from satellites, to give your Internet access. Compared to DSL, satellite broadband can be expensive to install and use; and the Internet access can be affected in bad weather conditions. Also be warned that cheaper options may be download only that require a secondary dial-up connection for transferring data.

SDSL stands for Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line; it is a broadband technology that has the same upstream data transfer rate as downstream (symmetrical). SDSL allows more data (up to 3 Mbps) to be sent over existing copper telephone lines (POTS), with a maximum range of about 1.8 miles. SDSL requires a special SDSL modem which works by sending digital pulses in the high-frequency area of telephone wires, therefore broadband cannot be used at the same time as the telephone.

Streaming is an alternative technique to downloading large files such as audio and video, in a steady and continuous stream. Streaming allows users to start displaying the data before the entire file has been transmitted, while it continues to download in the background.

The transferring of files from your computer to a location on the Internet is known as uploading.

VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol, and is the routing of voice conversations over the Internet or through other IP-based networks, in other words broadband phone.

A wireless router can remain switched on and connected to the Internet 24/7 and allows multiple devices to connect on the same broadband connection; it is also able to connect peripherals such as cameras and printers simultaneously, without the need for cables connecting the devices. A wireless router does not need a computer to be switched on for it to operate, so any machine not in use can be switched off while the broadband stays connected for other devices to use. They come with built-in security such as firewalls and the ability to protect your wireless network by making it accessible through a password, giving added protection against malicious hackers and viruses.