A few common terms to know


	HOME	A few common terms to know
		DSL
		xDSL, is a family of technologies that provide digital data transmission over the wires of a local telephone network. DSL originally stood for digital subscriber loop, although in recent years, many have adopted digital subscriber line as a more marketing-friendly term for the most popular version of consumer-ready DSL, ADSL. DSL uses high frequency; regular telephone uses low frequency.

		ADSL -- (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line)
		A DSL line where the upload speed is different from the download speed. Usually the download speed is much greater.
		BROADBAND
		Generally refers to connections to the Internet with much greater bandwidth than you can get with a modem. There is no specific definition of the speed of a "broadband" connection but in general any Internet connection using DSL or a via Cable-TV may be considered a broadband connection. Broadband is just a word we use when we're talking about any kind of fast Internet connection. It's as simple as that.
		BANDWIDTH
		How much stuff you can send through a connection. Usually measured in bits-per-second (bps.) A full page of English text is about 16,000 bits. A fast modem can move about 57,000 bits in one second. Full-motion full-screen video would require roughly 10,000,000 bits-per-second, depending on compression.
		HIGH-SPEED DIALUP
		Regular dial-up access retrieves web sites just the way they are. If you request a web site, the command is sent out to find the address on the internet (ex. www.xplore-va.com). Once it has located the site, all of that web page information is delivered to your computer. The size of the web page is a determining factor in how fast you receive the page and how fast it loads on your computer. When you use our high speed dial up, the web site is found and the page and all of its content are compressed. We then deliver to your computer a much smaller page, (because it's all compressed) thus sending the information faster because there isn't as much to send. Once on your computer the page decompresses.
		BIT
		A single digit number in base-2, in other words, either a 1 or a zero. The smallest unit of computerized data. Bandwidth is usually measured in bits-per-second.
		BPS - BITS PER SECOND
		A measurement of how fast data is moved from one place to another. A 56K modem can move about 57,000 bits per second.