Glossary

DSL Related

DSL: Digital Subscriber Line. E.g. ADSL, FTTC/VDSL, Gfast.
ADSL: Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line
VDSL: Very-high-bit-rate Digital Subscriber Line
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.
TAM: Test Access Module
BRAS: Broadband Remote Access Server (Takes PPP from EU and passes it to ISP by L2TP)
CPE: Customer Premise Equipment (router or modem)
DSLAM: Digital Subscriber Line Access Modulator
DLM: Dynamic Line Management
VP: Virtual Path - a link between an Exchange and the BRAS
LTS: L2TP tunnel switch - the router on the wholesaler's network (eg TalkTalk) that forwards the LT2TP to the ISP. Also see; L2TP on Juniper's website

BT Fault Terms

BBCR: BroadBand Customer Reporting (BT)
BBEU: WBC EUA Service ID (Circuit ID)
CRD: Customer Required by Date
CP: Communications Provider
ELF: Early Life Failure - A fault soon after an install
CDTA: Conscious Decision To Appoint - force booking an Openreach engineer
FTR: Fault Threshold Rate - The speed at which the line is considered at fault
DP: Distribution Point
KBD: Knowledge Based Diagnostics
KCI: Keep Customer Informed
MFL: Main Fault Location
KCI: Keeping Customers Informed (BT term)
EU: End User
CA: Customer Apparatus
MPF: Metallic Path Facility
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).
AI: Action Item
WAC: Work Allocation Controls (team)
PONR: Point of No Return - e.g. when an engineer is booked and cannot now be cancelled.
PCP: Primary Cross-connect Point
PEW: Planned Engineering Works
POH: Point of Handover
RA: Rate Adaptive
REIN: Repetitive Electrical Impulse Noise - some sort of interference causing problems with a broadband line - tricky to pinpoint, patience needed in diagnosing these faults.
FaultReportAdvised C: The result after running a PSTN line test. Usually Y or N, bur C means test Inconclusive/ Not Completed - Fault Report may be raised if CP believes there is a problem on BT network charges may be incurred if the fault is subsequently shown to be off BT network
RWT: Right When Tested
SIN: Supplier Information Note [BT]
SMPF: Shared Metallic Path Facility
SP: Service Provider (e.g. AAISP)
SSFP: Service Specific Front Plate
TPM: Tie Pair Modify - The cable from the MDF (main distribution frame) to the DSLAM port is replaced
TSO: Technology Service and Operations - a department within BT
WLR: Wholesale Line Rental
NTE: Network Termination Equipment
NTE5: Network Termination Equipment, 5th version

BT Fault Locations

CA: Fault located at Customer Apparatus
DT: Diagnostic Test required to establish fault
EX: Fault located in Exchange
LN: Fault Located in Local Network
CE: Fault located at Customer Equipment. Provides further breakdown of a CA fault
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.

BNR: Bell not ringing
BR: Bell ringing continuous
CCS: Call minder problems
CDT: Continuous Dial Tone
CO: Cuts off
DRO: Damage to aerial cables
DRU: Damage outside end user premises
DRW: Damage at the end users site
DRA: Damage Report Apparatus
FNT: Faint Transmission
MOD: No other equipment, retried
NDT: No dial tone
NR: Dial tone no answer
NSY: Noisy
NT: No Tone
NU: Number not Obtainable
OHR: Overhearing
OWT: One Way Transmission
PET: Permanently engaged tone
RTP: Ring Trip
UTR: Unable to trip ringing
WNO: Wrong Numbers Obtained
XL: Crossed lines
ESF: Exchange Service Facility

Services Related

BT: British Telecom
BTOR: British Telecom Openreach
OR: Openreach
BTW: BT Wholesale
TTW: TalkTalk Wholesale
DNS: Domain Name System/Server
VoIP: Voice over Internet Protocol
CDR: Call Detail Records - Call logs
SIP:Session Initiation Protocol - Sets up a VoIP call.
DS: Delegation signer (The record used to identify the DNSSEC signing key of a delegated zone)
IDN: Internationalised Domain Name
IP: Internet Protocol
CQM: Constant Quality Monitoring - the name given to the monitoring graphs used on the control pages and FireBricks
RIPE: The Réseaux IP Européens Network - the organisation in Europe who manage IP addresses
SIM: Subscriber identity module
CLI: Caller Line Identification (re telephony)
CLI: Command Line Interface
MSO: Major Service Outage - some sort of fault that will be affecting lots of customers - should be on https://aastatus.net.uk

Email Related

POP3: Post Office Protocol, Version 3
IMAP: Internet Message Access Protocol
SMTP: Simple Mail Transfer Protocol

VoIP Related

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

Network Related

MTU: Maximum Transmission Unit
MRU: Maximum Receive Unit
IP: Internet Protocol
TCP: Transmission Control Protocol
PPP: Point to Point Protocol
LCP: Link Control Protocol
L2TP: Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol

Other

IRC: Internet Relay Chat - an online chat room, AAISP have one, see the contact page. You can talk to staff and customers
THN: Telehouse North - a datacentre in London - A&A have racks there
TCH: Telecity Hex - a datacentre in London run by Equinix AKA HEX, LD8, LOH - A&A have racks there