Glossary: Difference between revisions

;ALG:Application Layer Gateway - typically software in a router to try to help with VoIP calls, often needing to be disabled

;Bonding:Bonding more than one broadband line.

;Copper Pair:ADSL and VDSL lines ‘piggy back’ off of the copper pair. This is the ‘phone line’ - two copper wires twisted together.

;CQM:Constant Quality Monitoring - the name given to the monitoring graphs used on the control pages and FireBricks. Customers and staff can view these graphs in near real time and historical graphs. It’s updated every 100 seconds. Sends an LCP echo every second (a bit like a PING).

;Domain:Text/written address of an IP address. DNS translates this to an IP address to be understood by a computer.

;Download/Upload:Receiving data over the internet/Sending data to another system over the internet.

;Ethernet:Cable to connect device directly to the router – gives much quicker and more accurate speeds.

;FireBrick:The FireBrick is a router, bonding box and traffic shaper. It can act as a SIP PBX, VPN tunnel endpoint and concentrator. Most commonly it is used as a general purpose network appliance in office environments, but many small ISPs/ITSPs also use them in core network situations.

;Gigaset:Model of VOIP handset sold by AAISP.

;Hostname:Used in association with domain name. E.g. support.aa.net.uk.

;IPv4:IPv4 is the most widely used version of the Internet Protocol. It defines IP addresses in a 32-bit format, which looks like 123.123.123.123. IPv4 allows 4,294,967,296 addresses to be used (2^32).

;IPv6:IPv6 uses 128-bit addresses, which increases the number of possible addresses by an exponential amount. They are typically written in this format: hhhh:hhhh:hhhh:hhhh:hhhh:hhhh:hhhh:hhhh

Each "hhhh" section consists of a four-digit hexadecimal number, which means each digit can be from 0 to 9 and from A to F. IPv6 allows for over 340,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 IP addresses.

;LAN:Local Area Network.

;Latency:The delay in transmitting data/processing data, sending a packet and seeing how long it takes to return. e.g. a PING from terminal.

;LNS:A bridge between carrier and ISP. E.g. BT and AAISP.

;Logs/Notes:Where we log information and history in regards to the circuit or service.

;Loop Fault:The two wires that makeup the line are in contact with each other and are causing a loop.

;MTU:Maximum Transmission Unit. The size of packets that can be received. If a computer has a lower MTU than it’s data recipient, it will resend again using smaller packets.

;Nameserver:Servers that hold information on a regustered domain. E.g. primary-dns.co.uk (main)/secondary-dns.co.uk (backup).

;Open DNS:A company that has DNS for anyone. E.g. Can set up parental advisory blocks for children’s usage.

;OSI:Opens systems interconnection model. Explains functions of computing systems communications.

;Packet loss:Bits of information split into ‘packets’ to send from one IP address to another, in order to find the fastest route. Packets aren’t formed properly when a link is full, causing packet loss.

;PSTN:Public switched telephone network. Circuit telephone network. Uses underground copper wires. AAISP do not use copper lines as traditional ‘phone line’. FTTP does not use PSTN as it is solely fibre optic cables.

;Quota:‘Data allowance’.

;RIPE:The Réseaux IP Européens Network - the organisation in Europe who manage IP addresses.

;Server:Computer that provides data to other computers. Serves data to LAN and WAN. Different servers run software specific to the purpose of the server.

;SFI:Special faults investigation. Engineer visit. If no fault found then £160 fee will be charged. Must make sure all appropriate tests have been ran first.

SIP – Sets up phone call.

;SIP2SIM:VOIP over a SIM card.

;SNOM:Model of VOIP phone sold by AAISP.

;Sync Rate:DSL connection rate. The PHYSICAL speed of the connection between your router and local telephone exchange.

;Terminal:Command lines or consoles. Carry out tasks without a graphical user interface.

;Throughput:Amount of data going through a single connection per second (speed). Expressed in KB/s, MB/s, GB/s.

;TR-069:Protocol for managing network equipment. TR-069 is what configures AAISP’s routers, phones etc.

;Traffic:Activity on the network/line.

;Tx Rate:Tx – Download rate.

Rx – Upload rate.

;WAN:Wide Area Network, an external connection to the rest of the world from your LAN.

 

==DSL Related==

 

;DSL:Digital Subscriber Line. E.g. ADSL, FTTC/VDSL, Gfast.

;FTTC:Fibre to the Cabinet. Fibre optic cables to the cabinet, and then copper to the premises.

;FTTP:Fibre to the Premises. Broadband running over fibre optic cables. The data is sent through light lasers. No copper pair is required. Fastest speed.

;G-Fast:Addition on the cabinet that gives faster speed. Higher frequencies.

;L2TP: A standard system called Layer Two Tunnelling Protocol (L2TP) which allows you (using suitable software or equipment) to connect to us via another Internet access service.

 

==BT Fault Terms==

See also BT's jargon buster at https://www.openreach.co.uk/orpg/home/products/serviceproducts/orderandfaulttracker/faulthandling/faulttrackerjargonbuster.do

 

;KCI:Keep Customer Informed. SMS or Email informing customers of any line discrepancies.

;MBORC:Matters Beyond Our Reasonable Control. Used by BT to indicate that they're suspending normal fix guarantees as some external event has made it impossible to achieve them (e.g. a fire, storms, terror attack).

;PONR:Point of No Return - e.g. when an engineer is booked and cannot now be cancelled.

;REIN:Repetitive Electrical Impulse Noise - some sort of interference causing problems with a broadband line - tricky to pinpoint, patience needed in diagnosing these faults.

 

==BT Fault Locations==

See also BT's jargon buster at https://www.openreach.co.uk/orpg/home/products/serviceproducts/orderandfaulttracker/faulthandling/faulttrackerjargonbuster.do

 

;FU:Fault Located at Frames Unit. Provides further breakdown of an EX fault.

 

==Openreach PSTN Fault Types==

Terms used to describe a fault type on a PSTN phone line. When reporting a PSTN fault to Openreach one of these terms is used to describe the fault.

 

==Email Related==

 

==Other==