User's Manual

G LOSSARY
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ITU International Telecommunication Union
ITU-T Telecommunication Standardization Section of ITU
LAN Local Area Network: A group of interconnected computers and support
devices.
MAC ADDRESS The physical layer address used to uniquely identify network nodes.
MTU Maximum Transfer Unit. The maximum transfer unit for traffic crossing this
device. MTU should be set to a value that minimizes unnecessary
fragmentation and maximizes the transfer of large sequential data
streams.
NTP Network Time Protocol: NTP provides the mechanisms to synchronize time
across the network. The time servers operate in a hierarchical-master-
slave configuration in order to synchronize local clocks within the subnet
and to national time standards via wire or radio.
PING A utility used to determine whether a specific IP address is accessible. It
works by sending a packet to the specified address and waiting for a reply.
POTS Plain Old Telephone Service. One of the services using voice band.
Sometimes used as a descriptor for all voice band services.
PPP Point-to-Point Protocol. A protocol for connecting remote hosts to the
Internet using TCP/IP.
PPPOE PPP over Ethernet. A protocol for connecting remote hosts to the Internet
over an always-on connection by simulating a dial-up connection.
PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network.
QOS Quality of Service. A network protocol used to specify a guaranteed
throughput level. This protocol is often used by Internet service providers
to guarantee their customers a minimum end-to-end latency.
RATE ADAPTIVE A DSL service that automatically adjusts the transmission rate depending
on line quality and loading to ensure data quality (such as, keeping within
a maximum error rate).