More and more, Internet access is becoming available to us everywhere we go. Someday, our gadgets will be connected to the Internet all the time, automatically. But today, that connection requires some effort and understanding from us. To comprehend that technology, you need to understand its terminology:
network - A group of computers and devices connected to communicate directly with each other. This could be two computers in one room, every computer in your house, or thousands of computers spread throughout many buildings.
Internet - The global public network that indirectly connects most of the worlds computers.
ISP - An Internet Service Provider is the company that provides your Internet service.
broadband or high speed - Generic term for any Internet service that is many times faster than the old dial-up Internet service. Download speeds can be anything from 0.5 to 30 megabits per second (MPS).
Ethernet - If you create a wired network, you’ll use equipment compatible with this standard. The cables connecting to each device in the network usually have connectors that resemble those on telephone cables, only larger. Depending on your equipment, data travels across the network at 10 (fast), 100 (faster) or 1000 (super fast) MPS.
switch or hub - This device have many Ethernet ports. Connect an Ethernet cable from your computer to the a port on the switch. Then connect another cable from a “network printer” (one with an Ethernet port) to the switch. Now both devices are on the same network, and any computer on that network can send documents to that printer.
wireless - In electronics, any device that can connect to other devices without using cables. Instead, data is sent and received via radio waves.
WiFi - If you create a wireless network, you’ll probably do so using equipment compatible with one of the WiFi standards, assuring that it works with other WiFi equipment. Actual network speeds depend on whether you’re using the old WiFi-B standard (4 MPS), the newer WiFi-G (20 MPS), or up and coming WiFi-N (75 MPS). Range is also longer with the newer versions.
modem - The device that connects you to the Internet. Think of it as the gate through which all traffic comes and goes to the Internet.
router - Connected directly to the modem, think of this as the traffic cop at the gate, directing each piece of data over your network to the correct computer (or other device). Thus, a router allows you share you single Internet connection between multiple computers, without ever getting the data all jumbled up.
WiFi access point - This performs the equivalent task to a switch, except wirelessly.
Many devices sold for home and small business owners actually build more than one of these functions into a single box. Routers often include a switch and/or a WiFi access point, so this single device creates a complete network. Furthermore, some ISPs will provide you with a device that also has the modem built-in. This is easier to install, but may be conceptually confusing to you, because the single box you see is actually four different devices. Because these are usually provided “free” to customers, they tend to be a cheap model, with fewer features than my favorite models.
