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Broadband Glossary

About broadband - what all those techie terms really mean.

ADSL
Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line is what brings you broadband. It uses software based at your local phone exchange to make your standard phone line behave like a high-bandwidth line. It's 'asymmetric' because it allocates more bandwidth downstream from the Internet to your desktop than upstream.

Always-on
You don't have to dial into a broadband connection. If your PC is on and you're logged on to your broadband service, you're online

Contention ratio
The number of users who share the bandwidth on a single connection.  Demon's entry level service (Demon Express) gives you contention rates of 50:1 so you will share the maximum bandwidth with no more than 49 other users. A contention ration of 20:1 is adequate for most small business which frequently use high-bandwidth, while Demon Premier Express Gold will give you the full 2Mbps bandwidth to yourself (this is known as uncontended or 1:1 contention)

Downstream
Transmission of data from the Internet to your computer

Firewall
software or hardware that is designed to prevent unauthorised access to a network. This can be either a piece of software or a standalone piece of equipment.

Microfilter
A small device that you plug into your phone socket and your computer communications cable which stops your broadband connection being disrupted by telephones connected to the same line

Modem
The device which modulates or converts your computer's digital signals device to analogue signals suitable for carrying over a normal phone line and vice versa. Modem is short for modulation/demodulation.

Router
A device which decides where to send packetised information, so essential if you have more than one computer on a network

Self-install
You are responsible for installing software (using a wizard) and plugging in the microfilter and modem yourself

Upstream
Transmission of data from your computer to the Internet

Web space
The amount of storage space you get on a server to enable you to store emails or run a website