Acronyms
| Acronym | Term | Meaning/Function |
|---|---|---|
| 802.11b | 802.11b | Standard for wireless transmissions up to 12 Mbps with a carrier frequency of 2.4GHz. |
| 802.11g | 802.11g | Standard for wireless transmission up to 54 Mbps with a carrier frequency of 2.4GHz. |
| 802.11n | Wi-Fi 802.11n | Standard for wireless transmission up to 300 Mbps with a carrier frequency of 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz depending on radio implementation. |
| AES | Advanced Encryption Standard | Used in WPA2 as an advanced encryption method. |
| AP | Access Point | A network device that connects a wireless signal with a wired router. |
| ALG | Application Layer Gateway | Allows defined applications to bypass the firewall destined for a LAN side device. |
| ATM | Asynchronous Transfer Mode | Data transmission technology utilizing virtual circuits to transmit text, voice, image, and video data. |
| CRC | Cyclic Redundancy Check | Used as a check to detect the alteration of data during data transmission or storage. |
| DHCP | Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol | Provides automatic allocation and management of IP addresses to LAN devices. |
| DMZ | DeMilitarized Zone | Zone in front of the modems firewall opening the LAN device to full view of the Internet. A device in the DMZ WILL NOT be protected by the firewall of the modem. |
| DNS | Domain Name Server | Provides IP to URL translation to find a specific site on the Internet. When a domain as in www.CenturyLink.com is entered into the address bar of your browser, DNS translates the domain to an IP address to find the site on the Internet. |
| FTP | File Transfer Protocol | Protocol used to transmit data from one computer to another over the Internet. |
| GRE | Generic Routing Encapsulation | Tunneling protocol used to create point to point tunnels over an IP network. |
| IM | Instant Messaging |
Real time communication with two or more people using text over an IP network. |
| IPCP | Internet Protocol Control Protocol | Network control protocol used to establish and configure a point-to-point link over an IP network. |
| IP | Internet Protocol | Protocol used for transferring data over a wide network. IP is the primary protocol used for the Internet. |
| ISP | Internet Service Provider | Provides access to the Internet. |
| LAN | Local Area Network | Network of computers and devices covering a small area as a home or office. |
| LCP | Link Control Protocol | Used to establishing a PPP connection, LCP determines the standards to ensure data transmission. |
| LLC | Logical Link Control | Provides flow and error control across all interfaces |
| MAC | Media Access Control | Provides addressing and channel access control of devices on the LAN. |
| NAT | Network Address Translator | Masks devices on the LAN behind the modem hiding the devices from the Internet. |
| PPP | Point to Point Protocol | Established a direct authenticated connection between two network devices. PPP is used to establish a connection between your modem and the CenturyLink network. |
| PPPoA | Point to Point Protocol over ATM | Establishes a direct authenticated connection using ATM as the transfer method. |
| PPPoE | Point to Point Protocol over Ethernet | Establishes a direct authenticated connection using Ethernet as the transfer method. |
| PSK | Pre-Shared Key | A shared secret between two devices to establish a secure wireless connection. |
| QoS | Quality of Service | Provides the ability to prioritize different traffic types over another. An example is prioritizing voice traffic over internet browsing traffic. |
| UPnP | Universal Plug and Play | Protocol allowing devices to connect to each other seamlessly providing a true plug-n-play experience. |
| RAM | Random Access Memory | Randomly accessed modem memory providing resources to run applications stored on the modem. Resources include all modem features and the GUI you are viewing. |
| RFC | Request For Comment | Provides a means for developing standards and specifications for protocol development. |
| RIP | Router Information Protocol | Identifies the shortest path between two network points with the least number of hops. |
| RS | Reed-Solomon | Error correcting technique used to correct errors in data bursts. |
| SNR | Signal to Noise Ratio | Compares the desired transmission signal to background noise on a transmission line. The higher the ratio, the better the signal transmission is. |
| SSID | Service Set Identifier | Is the name of your wireless network. When you search for a wireless network from a wireless client the network name that appears is the SSID. CenturyLink uses "myCenturyLinkxxxx" and "CenturyLinkxxxx" as default SSID's. The "xxxx" in the default SSID represents the last four digits of your routers serial number making network identification easier. |
| TCP | Transmission Control Protocol | Manages a data stream across the Internet ensuring a reliable delivery. |
| TKIP | Temporal Key Integrity Protocol | Security protocol used for wireless networks in the framework of WPA. |
| UDP | User Datagram Protocol | Allows network devices to send short datagrams to each other without the reliability of TCP. |
| URL | Uniform Resource Locator | Standard way of defining where a resource is available on the Internet. If you are looking for CenturyLink on the Internet, the URL www.CenturyLink.com would be used to connect to CenturyLink. |
| USB | Universal Serial Bus | Shared bus standard for connecting devices to a host computer. All devices connected the the USB bus share the available bandwidth. USB 1.0/1.1 has a maximum bus rate of 12Mbps where USB 2.0 has a maximum bus rate of 480Mbps. |
| VCI | Virtual Channel Identifier | Unique identifier in the ATM world identifying the virtual channel a data stream should take. VCI works in conjunction with the VPI to identify the destination point of the data stream. |
| VIP | Virtual IP Interface | Allows for the creation of a private and public subnet with a block of static IP addresses. Using VIP enables you to provide static IP addresses to devices that require a static IP address while providing DHCP addresses to devices that do not require a static IP address. |
| VLAN | Virtual Local Area Network | A group of devices that are geographically separated but appear to be in the same place on one LAN. |
| VPI | Virtual Path Identifier | Unique identifier in the ATM world identifying the virtual path a data stream should take. VPI works in conjunction with the VCI to identify the destination point of the data stream. |
| WAN | Wide Area Network | Network covering a wide area providing connectivity for many LANs. The Internet is considered a big WAN. |
| WEP | Wired Equivalent Privacy | Wireless network security protocol providing wireless security with an AP. WEP has been replaced with WPA2 as the preferred wireless security protocol for wireless networks. |
| WMM | Wireless Multimedia | Provides traffic QoS on the wireless link of a LAN. WMM allows for the prioritization of traffic by traffic type on the wireless AP. |
| WPA / WPA2 | Wi-Fi Protected Access | Wireless network security protocol providing wireless security with an AP. WPA2 is the preferred wireless security type over WEP. WPA2 allows you to create a security phrase instead of having to develop a hexadecimal key with WEP. |
| WPS | Wi-Fi Protected Setup | Provides the ability to exchange security key information between a wireless client and AP without having to type in the key. |
| WPS PBC | Wi-Fi Protected Setup - Push Button Configuration | To initiate a WPS PBC key exchange push the WPS button on the modem and activate WPS in your wireless client. Not all CenturyLink modems come with a WPS button. |
| WPS PIN | Wi-Fi Protected Setup - PIN Configuration | To initiate a WPS PIN connection insert the WPS PIN of the wireless client into the modem on the WPS page under wireless settings. |