 | Village Internet - Broadband Terminology Here are some explantions of the terms and terminology used to describe the way broadband works and where appropriate how they relate to broadband packages.
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Additional Monthly Download
The amount of data you're likley to be charged for exceeding your agreed 'Monthly Download Allowance'.
ADSL
A technical term that defines how the data arrives down your telephone line when you have broadband enabled.
Contention ratio
Often a package will may be sold with a contention ratio of 50 to 1. This means the bandwidth may be shared with up to 50 other subscribers at any one time. This is a common contention rate used by ISP's. A broadband package with a lower contention ratio means more available bandwidth therefore faster surfing and downloading.
Maximum Download Speed
The speed at which you download information from the Internet. The faster the better. However, you may be constrained by the quality of your line and the distance you are from the exchange.
Maximum Upload Speed
The speed at which you upload information, such as sending an email, to the Internet. If you use webmail, it could mean that a slow upload speed will mean that composing an email will take longer.
Microfilter
A small device that connects to your telephone line. Basically it separates the voice and data signals, and allows you to still use your nornal telephone handset
Modem
A device that connects into your Microfilter and converts the broadband ADSL data into a format that your PC will understand. Often modems are integrated into a device called a Router.
Monthly Download Allowance
The amount of data you can download in one month with no extra charge. All packages as standard include 1GB of downloads. In approximate terms you can think of this as the equivalent of 600 emails, 100 hours browsing or downloading 40 tunes. Your download allowance can be increased by purchasing a Bandwidth bundle. However, if you download lots of music and films, don't be surprised if you start hitting 30, 40, 50GB or even more!
Router
If you just have a modem, you can only attach one PC to your broadband line. However, if you have a router you can then connect multiple PCs. Depending on the type of router you install, may be able to connect your PCs using either an Ethernet cable or by wireless.
Static IP address / 8, 16 and 32 IP Blocks
Static IP addresses are commonly used for remotely connecting to your Computer and for VPN configurations. If you wish to have computers with publicly accessible IP addresses (for example if you run an email server in an office) then you may need an IP address block.