Instruction manual

TCP/IP Internet Basics

be shared with your current telephone lines.

Cab e Access

– This type of service travels along the same cable as your CATV (Cable TV).

That is why the provider of cable high-speed Internet is usually a cable TV company, since they

can use the existing cable ran to the residence or place of business. It is a shared medium

between you and your neighbors and is not a dedicated line. This in turn means, during peak

hours of the day you may receive slower rates than accessing the unit late at night.

Static vs. Dynamic

The IP address that your Internet service provider supplies generally comes in one of two forms:

static IP addressing or dynamic IP addressing. A static address does not change. They will assign

you an IP address and that IP address is yours to keep until you cancel your service. Whichever

device you assign this static IP, you can ensure that it will not change. Dynamic addresses on the

other hand, may change. A special server located at the ISP automatically assigns these

addresses. With dynamic addressing, the ISP will not give you any IP addresses, rather they will

tell you to configure your equipment to obtain the IP automatically. This is done using DHCP.

Unfortunately, with dynamic addressing the ISP is not guaranteeing that the IP address that was

automatically obtained will stay the same, it may change. Many times the IP address that you are

assigned will not change for a very long time, yet in some situations it may change on a

continuous basis.

High-speed Internet

The term ‘high-speed’ does not really describe your connection too well, other than it’s not dial-

up. Often it is asked, “How fast is you high-speed connection?”. This is very important

concerning TCP/IP and your NVS. The speed of your connection is determined by the amount

of ‘bandwidth’ available. When you register for a high-speed Internet service they should tell

you the amount of bandwidth you will be granted. Bandwidth is basically how large or small the

‘pipe’ is that carries your data across the Internet. For an analogy, you can imagine that high-

speed bandwidth is the size of residential plumbing for a house’s water supply, while dial-up

bandwidth is the size of a straw. Therefore if you were pushing a large amount of water (or

computer data for this analogy) through a house, you would have faster transfer through the use

etwork Video Server User’s Manual

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