24x7 Technical Support Technical support that is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 28.8 Modem A modem that connects at a maximum throughput of 28.8Kbps. 28.8 modem speeds are considered barely adequate in the increasingly graphics-laden Internet. 33.6 Modem A modem that connects at a maximum throughput of of 33.6Kbps. 33.6 modem speeds are considered barely adequate in the increasingly graphics-laden internet. 56.6 V.90 Modem A modem that, despite its name, connects at a maximum of 53Kbps. V.90 refers to the standard used to communicate over voice phone lines. Two modems that use the same standard should, theoretically, be able to communicate without problems. The 53Kbps transfer rate is for downloads only; upload data travels at 33.6Kbps. Active Server Page Support Support for Microsoft's Active Server Pages, a scheme for dynamically generating content when users view a page. Alias Email Address An email address that acts as an alias, or nickname, of another email address. For example, if username@domain.com were an alias for yourcompany@domain.com, any email sent to username@domain.com would end up in the mailbox of yourcompany@domain.com. Applet A small Java program that may be used on a Web page. Bandwidth Measure of the information capacity of a transmission channel. Strictly speaking, bandwidth is the difference, expressed in hertz (Hz), between the highest and lowest frequencies of the channel. Basic Traffic Reports The most basic of reporting tools. Basic traffic reports usually just list the number of "hits" (HTTP connections) on a Web server. Cable Modem A device that converts the data on cable wiring into networking data that a computer can understand. A cable modem typically uses the bandwidth provided by an unused television channel. Speed varies depending on how many subscribers are signed up in a particular area. The maximum is about 30Mbps, but more typical speeds are less than those of a 10Mbps Ethernet LAN. CGI Support Support for the use of Common Gateway Interface. CGI is the standard for integrating applications with Web pages, and is used for scripts and database applications. Connection Type The means by which a connection is made to the Internet. Most connections can be classified as either slow or high speed. A slow connection type generally means dial-up (56.6K V.90 modem for example). DSL and Cable are two of the leading high-speed Internet connection types. Both offer speeds in excess of 1Mbps. Data Transfer Limit (from Web space) The maximum amount of data the ISP will allow transferred from dedicated Web space to the internet. This data is usually is measured in megabytes per month. Dedicated Server A server located at the service provider that is for exclusive use by your company. Dial-Up A Dial-Up connection uses a modem through the phone network to connect to the Internet. The phone network is sometimes called POTS, for plain old telephone service. Typical dial-up connection speeds are 28.8K, 33.6K and 56.6Kbps. The current generally accepted base dial-up speed is 56.6Kbps. Domain Forwarding A service that forwards requests from one domain to another. For example, www.yourcompany.com could be forwarded to a personal Web site on www.yourprovider.com. Domain Hosting A service providing a place for users to go when they try to type in your domain name. For example, typing www.yourcompany.com would take users to the ISP hosting your domain name. Domain Registration This company provides a service which will registering a domain name. A domain name is your permanent street address on the Internet. It's a unique name used to identify, among other things, a specific Web site. Download Speed This is the maximum possible data transfer rate from the ISP down to your computer. DSL Digital Subscriber Line. A network access technology that delivers always on, high-speed Internet access. DSL is designed to take advantage of that portion of the bandwidth which is not used by voice. E-Commerce Electronic Commerce is the buying and selling of goods and services over the Internet. E-Commerce continues to grow exponentially as an increasing number of consumers gain access to the Internet and security measures improve. There are three main types of E-Commerce transactions: business to business, business to consumer, and consumer to consumer. Email Address An Internet address that comprises a user name and a host, separated by an @ (at) sign. For example, username@domain.com. E-mail Attachment A binary file attached to an e-mail message carrying more complex information, for example, a document with formatting codes, images or sound. Email Forwarding A service by which email sent to one address, such as sales@company.com, is sent instead to another, such as Joe.Smith@company.com. Free Technical Support Technical support that is available free of charge. Free Trial Period The period of time during which a new user is not charged for the Internet service. The length of this period varies by service. FrontPage Server Extension Support Support for a protocol that makes it easier to upload Web pages from Microsoft's FrontPage, a Web page authoring software application. FTP Download and Upload Space on a server that allows people to upload and download files only if they have an account on the server using a unique username and password. GIF Graphics Interchange Format - an image file format. HTTP Hyper Text Transfer Protocol. Hyperlinks Connections between hypermedia or hypertext documents High-Speed Connection speeds greater than dial-up services. High-Speed connections range from 64Kbps single channel ISDN to 44MB-plus T3 connections. The most common High-Speed services are ISDN, DSL, Cable, T1 and T3. Internet Service Provider (ISP) Also known as Internet Access Providers, Internet Service Providers are companies that provide consumers and businesses with access to the Internet. Internet Service/Access Providers purchase bandwidth from other companies that have direct links to the Internet. The Internet Service/Access Providers in turn sell that bandwidth to consumers and businesses in smaller chunks. For example, an ISP may take the bandwidth of a 45Mbps T3 connection to the Internet and sell it to thousands of 56Kbps dial-up modem users. IP Address This describes how an ISP assigns Internet Protocol (IP) addresses to its users. An IP address is a series of numbers that work like a telephone number. Using these numbers, another computer can find your IP address on the Internet. A static IP address is always the same and is useful for users who want to provide a service on the Internet, such as a Web server or FTP server. ISDN (single/dual) Integrated Service Digital Network. ISDN was designed for digital data and voice transmission. ISDN can have two 64Kbps channels--one for voice and one for data. The two channels can be combined to provide up to 128Mbps. Java Script Support Support for JavaScript. All ISPs support Java Script, because the code is usually implemented in the Web page itself. Whether the script runs or not depends on the browser, not the Web site or ISP. Java Server Page Extension Support Support for a protocol that makes it easier to upload content to a Web server. JPEG or JPG A file format defined by the Joint Photographics Experts Group for still picture compression. Linux Client Support The ability to support clients running Linux in any of its many distributions. Maximum Email Box Size The maximum amount of space taken up by all of the email messages stored on the server. When the maximum is reached, new email messages will be returned to the sender as undeliverable. Maximum Email Message Size The maximum size any one email message can be. A maximun email size threshold is usually set to discourage users from sending very large attachments. Modem A device that translates the analog signals that travel over voice phone lines to the digital information understood by computers. The term modem derives from modulate/demodulate, which is descriptive of the conversion process. NT Advanced Server Support This service is using Windows NT Advanced Server as the server operating system. Page Request Reports A report on how many actual pages where read--not just the number of hits. Each element on the page, such as graphics and banner advertisements, registers a separate "hit." Page requests, therefore, are a more accurate representation of activity on the Web site than basic traffic reports. PERL Support Support for the use of scripts written in Perl, a popular scripting language on Unix. POP3 Post Office Protocol, Version 3. POP3 is the most common protocol used on the Internet and provides for relatively simple actions. For example, POP3 gives users the choice of receiving email and either leaving it on the server or deleting it from the server. Remote Email Access The ability for a user to access email when he or she is not connected directly to the ISP where it is stored. Remote email access, such as through the Web. Server Operating System The operating system running on the servers. The server operating system does not usually affect the user, unless the user or company will be running applications on the ISP server. In such a case, there must be compatibility between the server operating system and the application. Setup Fee The fee charged to sign up a customer. The Setup Fee may include an installation program or a service call by a technician to install hardware equipment. Spam or Spamming A term used to refer to the inappropriate use of a mailing list or Usenet. Usually meaning the message has been sent to a large number of newsgroups many of which the message will not be relevent to. It's been suggested that the term comes from a Monty Python sketch where the word Spam is repeated over and over. (Spam is a Registered Trademark of Hormel Corporation, for it's processed meat product). T1 A 1.544Mbps telephone line that is made up of 24 64Kbps lines. The name comes from the telecommunications committee that designed it. T3 A 44.736Mbps telephone line made up of 28 T1 lines. Technical Support A range of services designed to help users/companies with technical problems, from something as simple as a Frequently Asked Questions list on a Web site to a technician who comes to a home or business to fix problems. Unlimited Access A condition by which there is no limit to the number of hours a user connects to the ISP. The current norm is unlimited access per month on any kind of ISP account, from dial-up to DSL or cable connections. However, most ISPs won't allow users to connect continuously 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Uptime Guarantee A guarantee that Internet service will continue for a given amount of time or percentage of time. Typically, if the service is unavailable, some portion of the service fee is refunded. URL Uniform Resource Locator. Standardized format for specifying a network service or document within an HTML document. Virtual Private Network A secure network which appears to be local but in fact uses the public network (Internet) to connect remote users to a private network. Users access the company network via the Internet and establish a secure connection (tunnel) between the remote system and the server. Allows companies to support large numbers of remote users without the maintaining a large dial-up center. Web Storage Space Hard disk space located on the server(s) that is at the user's disposal. Users can purchase additional storage space if needed. WWW World Wide Web. The Internet-based hypertext system that you are currently using to view this definition.