- Asynchronous
- Signals which the timing of the information being received and transmitted is not predefined, and may be unpredictable, as in many modem communications. This type of communication requires some means of indicating the starting and stopping points of the transmission. Compare with synchronous.
- ATM
- Asynchronous Transfer Mode. A high-speed, cell-based, connection-oriented, packet transmission protocol for handling data with varying burst and bit rates. It provides Virtual Connection (VC) switching and multiplexing to enable the uniform transmission of voice, data, video and other multimedia applications.
- Broadband
- A service enabling the two-way transmission of voice, data, or multimedia communications with speed in one direction in excess of 1.544 Mbps.
- Carrier
- see Common Carrier
- CLEC
- Competitive Local Exchange Carrier. A competitive carrier that is permitted to compete with established local voice and data service providers, as a result of telecommunications deregulation.
- CO
- Central Office. Facility containing telephone equipment where customers' calls are switched and transmitted.
- Common Carrier
- A public communications service carrier licensed and regulated by the CRTC.
- CRTC
- Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. The federal regulator of radio, television and telecommunications in Canada.
- DSL
- Digital Subscriber Line. A technology for bringing high-bandwidth information to homes and small businesses over ordinary copper telephone lines. xDSL refers to different variations of DSL, such as ADSL, HDSL, and RADSL.
- Ethernet
- The most widely implemented Local Area Network (LAN) and Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) transmission standard. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers designate it as IEEE 802.3.
- ILEC
- Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier. A company that, prior to the introduction of competition, provided monopoly local telephone service. Bell Canada is the ILEC in Ontario and Quebec.
- ISPs
- Internet Service Providers. Companies that provide customers with access to Internet services.
- LAN
- Local Area Network. A Local Area Network (LAN) is a group of computers and associated devices that share a common communications line and typically share the resources of one or more servers within a small geographic area (for example, within an office building).
- Last Mile
- see Local Loop
- Local Loop
- Also called the "last mile," the physical connection between the customer premise and the Central Office/Point of Presence.
- MAN
- Municipal Area Network. A MAN is a network that interconnects users with computer resources in a geographic area or region larger than that covered by even a large Local Area Network (LAN) but smaller than the area covered by a Wide Area Network (WAN). The term is applied to the interconnection of networks in a city into a single larger network.
- MDU
- Multiple Dwelling Unit. A term that refers to a building that is divided to house multiple tenants.
- NOC
- Network Operations Centre. A centralized facility for monitoring and maintaining a network, which may remotely service smaller centres, such as PoPs.
- On-net
- A term used to identify the proximity of a premise to a telecommunications network. A premise is deemed to be on-net when the network infrastructure runs directly in front of or behind the building.
- OC
- Optical Carrier. A series of transport levels defined in conjunction with the Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) telecommunications standard. For example, OC3 is an optical interface that moves information at 155 Mbps.
- Private Line
- A service that provides a dedicated communications link. MaXess® defines it further as a bandwidth below 10 Mbps.
- PoP
- Point of Presence. A central location of a carrier, the point at which the backbone facilities connect to the distribution facilities.
- POTS
- Plain Old Telephone Service. The basic analog phone service which has been available from local phone companies for many years.
- PSTN
- Public Switched Telephone Network.
- ROW
- Right Of Way. The municipally owned public access portion of land used to bury infrastructure and place electric and telecommunications poles.
- Synchronous
- Signals with the same timing reference and the same frequency. Compare with asynchronous.
- TLS
- Transparent LAN Service. Also know as LAN Extension Service, TLS connects to Local Area Networks (LANs) across geography. MaXess® defines TLS further as a service that runs at either 10, 100, or 1,000 Mbps.
- WAN
- Wide Area Network. A geographically dispersed telecommunications network. A WAN covers more area than a Municipal Area Network (MAN). The MaXess® network, extending from Windsor to Sarnia, is an example of a WAN.
- Wireless
- A term used to describe telecommunications in which electromagnetic waves (rather than some form of wire) carry the signal over part or all of the communication path.
