At Comms Connect, we want you to make informed decisions about your purchases and appreciate that telecoms specific terms can be a little bewildering if you are not working in telecoms so below are a few commonly used terms which we hope will be useful.
If when reading anything else appears overly technical please let us know and we will endeavour to add to this section
If you test your internet speed, you will notice either one of two things either your download and upload speeds are close to identical, or your upload speeds are only a fraction of your downloads. This is because internet connections can be categorised as either symmetrical or asymmetrical.
As the name suggests, symmetrical internet connections are ones which have the same download and upload speed, and which allow these speeds to be used at the same time. Therefore, if you have a symmetrical internet connection, you will be able to upload data (such as videos or music) to the internet whilst you are also downloading large files.
Webopedia defines a WAN as “a computer network that spans a relatively large geographical area.” Typically, a WAN consists of two or more local-area networks (LANs). It is in essence a network that spans multiple locations connecting local area networks (LAN’s) A LAN could be the pc’s in your office in it’s simplest form. The advantages for SME’s or large corporations is that it allows access to shared folders and applications and even monitor usage across multiple offices either nationally or internationally.
- Download speed: This refers to the speed at which information is transferred from the internet to your computer. Better download speeds mean you can get photos, music, and video from the internet faster than if you’re using a slow connection. This is particularly apparent if you are using a lot of video or watch film or online TV. A slow download speed will create pauses (or buffering) for loading.
- Upload speed: This refers to the speed at which information is transferred from your computer to the internet. The faster the upload speed, the smoother the online experience. Upload speeds particularly affect how quickly emails send, post photos on Facebook or upload large videos or batches of photos to sites like YouTube and Flickr.
On typical home broadband, upload speeds are considerably slower than download speeds, so don’t be alarmed if you see a disparity between the two. Providers give ‘downstream’ data priority as most of us are more concerned with how quickly we can download stuff than how long it takes us to upload files.
Service level agreement. This sets out terms of service for the customer. Typically within telecoms it is used to reference the response time such as “SLA 6 hours” meaning that a customers query will be dealt within 6 hours.
FTTC stands for Fibre to the Cabinet. FTTC is a blend of a traditional copper wire cable and fibre optic cable. Fibre optic cables are used to the street cabinet (grey or green cabinets on the street that contain active and passive broadband equipment), and then copper wire to connect the cabinets to businesses. This is because it is incredibly expensive to install fibre optic cables into a business, so copper is used as an economical substitute.
The biggest difference between these two systems is how they are deployed. Cloud-based software is hosted on the vendor’s servers and accessed through a Web browser. On-premise software is installed locally, on a company’s own computers and servers.
Why should I use Comms Connect and not someone else?
We aim to delight our customers
Once business customers switch to us, they tend to stay.
Look at the results
A recent survey instigated by EE showed that of the random Comms Connect customers surveyed within a three month period, a quarter are happy and planning to stay with us and the other three quarters were so delighted they actively promoted our service to others.
What happens if things go wrong
Whilst we can’t guarantee that things won’t ever go wrong we work very hard on your behalf if they ever do, which our customers seem to find refreshingly different!
Abbreviation Terms:
ADSL | Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line | Broadband over copper telephone wire |
---|---|---|
FTTC | Fibre to the Cabinet | Broadband that relies on both fibre optic cable and copper cable |
IP | Internet Protocol | A digital media transport system that runs over internet networks |
ISDN | Integrated Services Digital Network | Voice and data traffic over a single line |
PBX | Private Branch Exchange | A private telephone network within a company or organisation |
PSTN | Public Switched Telephone Network | A collection of telephone networks used worldwide |
SIP | Session Initiation Protocol | Telephony protocol that establishes a voice or audio media session over the telephone |
SoGEA | Single order Generic Ethernet Access | Broadband without a landline |
VoIP | Voice over Internet Protocol | A telephone connection over the Internet |
WLR | Wholesale Line Rental | Phone service on a copper network |