Numbers-P

1xRTT

See CDMA2000.

3G

Third generation cellular service; expected to handle voice communication as well as broadband data access and live video. Slowly being rolled out.

802.11a

IEEE networking standard providing 54 Mbps speed in the 5 GHz band . Not supported by Apple.

802.11b

IEEE networking standard providing 11 Mbps speed in the 2.4 GHz band. Apple refers to this as "AirPort." 802.11g, also known as "AirPort Extreme," has superseded it.

802.11g

IEEE networking standard providing 54 Mbps speed in the 2.4 GHz band. Apple refers to this as "AirPort Extreme." Backward compatible with 802.11b.

802.11i

A draft IEEE standard to address security concerns in wireless networks. It uses a combination of 802.1X, TKIP, and AES to secure wireless networks.

802.1X

A port-based authentication mechanism for wired and wireless networks.

Access Point

A hardware device that connects wireless users to a wired local network; also referred to as an AP or base station.

Ad-hoc network

A wireless network consisting of two or more devices communicating with each other without an access point. Also known as computer-to-computer networks.

Advanced Encryption Standard

See AES.

AES

Advanced Encryption Standard is the U.S. government's next -generation cryptography algorithm that will be used in future versions of 802.11i and replace DES and 3DES.

Aggregator

A provider who allows access to hotspots run by multiple providers with a single membership.

AirPort

See 802.11b.

AirPort Extreme

See 802.11g.

AP

See Access Point.

Authenticating server

In a WLAN using 802.1X and EAP, a supplicant requests access to an authenticator, which requests the supplicant's identity, which is then passed to an authenticating server. This server (which may use RADIUS) follows its set algorithm to decide whether to accept or reject the supplicant.

Authenticator

In a WLAN using 802.1X and EAP, a supplicant requests access to an AP, which is known as the authenticator. The AP requests the supplicant's identity, which is then passed to an authenticating server, which then either accepts or rejects the supplicant.

Base station

See Access Point.

Bluetooth

A short-range wireless protocol used for connecting peripherals to a computer and to each other. Typically used in cell phones, keyboards, mice, and PDA's.

Bridge

A device that connects one LAN to another LAN, either of which may be a WLAN.

Captive Portal

A web page that offers you the opportunity to sign in to a secured public Wi-Fi network. At a for-pay Wi-Fi provider, this is where you make your payment arrangements.

CDMA

Code Division Multiple Access, a protocol used by a family of cellular technologies, some of which are 2G and some of which are nearly 3G in performance. Used today in the USA, South America, and Korea. There are CDMA networks being built in various countries .

CDMA2000

A 3G flavor of CDMA; the data side is known as 1xRTT.

CDPD

Cellular Digital Packet Data, a popular 1G cellular telephone specification supporting wireless Internet access via packet switching on an AMPS800 network. Supports up to 19.2 Kbps, but is being phased out in favor of 2.5G and 3G.

Cellular Digital Packet Data

See CDPD.

Centrino

A package from Intel that puts wireless networking and a Pentium processor on a single chip.

Circuit Switched Data

See CSD.

Class A

A network with almost 17 million possible IP addresses.

Class B

A network with almost 66,000 IP possible IP addresses.

Class C

A network with up to 254 possible IP addresses.

Code Division Multiple Access

See CDMA.

Community Network

A WISP, set up by a local community for the benefit of that community.

Computer to computer network

See Ad-hoc network.

CSD

Circuit Switched Data is a service used for data and fax calls on GSM networks, with a rate of 9.6 Kbps to 14.4 Kbps.

DHCP

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, a method for automatically assigning unique IP addresses.

Discoverable

Two Bluetooth devices that are within each other's range can be paired when they are both discoverable by the other.

DMZ host

A computer on a wireless network that is purposefully exposed to the Internet.

Dotted quad

The four parts of a numeric IP address, combined together.

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol

See DHCP.

Dynamic IP addresses

An IP address assigned by an ISP. Costs less than a static IP address, but is subject to change at the ISP's whim.

EAP

Extensible Authentication Protocols, a standard protocol for handling security on a network.

Enhanced Data GSM Environment

See EDGE.

EDGE

Enhanced Data GSM Environment, a faster version of GSM wireless service. Delivers rates up to 384 Kbps using existing frequencies. Requires equipment that can access EDGE and base station upgrades for providers.

Extensible Authentication Protocols

See EAP.

Firewall

A firewall is used to intercept packets coming in from the Internet before they reach computers inside the network.

Firmware

The software run by hardware chips; it can be updated via firmware upgrades.

General Packet Radio Service

See GPRS.

Global System for Mobile

See GSM.

GPRS

General Packet Radio Service, a data service that supplements other data services such as CSD and SMS.

GSM

Global System for Mobile communications, the most widely used of the three digital wireless telephone technologies (the others are TDMA and CDMA).

High speed CSD

See HSCSD.

Host

A computer on a TCP/IP network.

Host number

The last number in a dotted quad, which identifies the particular machine on a network.

Hotspot

Any location that offers wireless Internet access.

HSCSD

A high-speed version of CSD, with a data rate of up to 43.2 Kbps.

Hub

A device that connects multiple computers together, generally via Ethernet.

IEEE

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is the organization that creates standards such as the 802.11 family. Pronounced eye-triple-E.

IETF

The Internet Engineering Task Force is a working group that manages standards such as Zeroconf.

Infrared

See IR.

Initialization vector

A component of WEP, used to increase the unpredictability of the encryption scheme.

Internet sharing

The ability of one computer to act as a base station via software, providing wireless network access for other local computers. Formerly referred to as a software base station.

IP

Internet Protocol is how data is sent between computers on the Internet.

IP address

A computer's address on the Internet. A machine name (such as www.example.com ) is converted into an IP address, which is then used to find that machine.

IPv4

32-bit scheme used to currently identify up to 4.3 billion hosts on the Internet.

IPv6

128-bit scheme that is slowly superseding IPv4.

IR

Infrared, a line-of-sight technology using light (vs. radio waves), once supported on the Mac and most commonly used for television remote controls.

IrDA

This term is used for both the Infrared Data Association and the infrared standard that it created.

Kbps

Kilobits per second, or 1,024 bits per second ”a way to measure bandwidth.

ISP

An Internet Service Provider, who provides access to the Internet.

L2TP

Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol, a communication protocol similar to that of PPTP, except that it does not include encryption. Mac OS X Panther supports L2TP over IPSec for encrypted links to remote networks.

LAN

A Local Area Network, also described as a group of computers in one common location connected together. See also WAN.

Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol

See L2TP

Local Area Network

See LAN.

Link-local addressing

The method by which Rendezvous automatically assigns IP addresses.

MAC Address

A computer's Ethernet hardware address.

MacStumbler

One of several OS X applications that can be run to find any locally available wireless access points.

Main base station

A component of a WDS that is connected to the Internet and shares its Internet connection with remote and relay base stations .

Master

The hub of a Bluetooth piconet.

Mbps

Megabits per second, or 1,048,576 bits per second ”a way to measure bandwidth.

mDNS-SD

Multicast DNS-Service Discovery notifications are how Rendezvous devices broadcast what services they offer.

Multicast DNS-Service Discovery

See mDNS-SD.

Multitap

A lengthy and time-consuming way to enter letters into an SMS message. Use T9 instead if it's available.

NAT

Network Address Translation allows a network behind a router to appear to use a single IP address.

Network Address Translation

See NAT.

Network number

The first three parts of a dotted quad, which identify the network a computer is connected to.

NoCatAuth

Linux-based software for handling community networks.

Pairing

The process of telling two Bluetooth-enabled devices that the other is to be remembered and trusted.

PDC

Personal Digital Cellular, an alternative cellular technology used in Japan.

Personal Digital Cellular

See PDC.

Piconet

An ad-hoc Bluetooth network, which can contain up to eight devices.

Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol

See PPTP.

Port

See TCP/IP port.

PPP Over Ethernet

See PPPOE.

PPPOE

PPP Over Ethernet, an alternative method of connecting a cable or DSL modem that requires extra security information to be passed.

PPTP

A communication protocol designed by Microsoft (and other companies) to create a secure tunnel between two computers. PPTP provides authentication and encryption services, and encapsulates PPP packets within IP packets.