Glossary
Internet availability terms, explained plainly.
- Address qualification
- The provider’s process for deciding whether a particular premises can order a service.
- Broadband map
- A map showing reported service availability or coverage. It is not always a final installation guarantee.
- Coverage
- A broad indication that a network or service is present in an area.
- DSL
- Internet access over copper telephone lines, with performance affected by line condition and distance.
- Fibre/Fiber to the premises
- An optical-fibre connection that reaches the customer location or building.
- Fixed wireless
- Internet delivered by radio between a network site and equipment at the premises.
- Gateway
- A device that commonly combines modem, router and Wi-Fi functions.
- Last mile
- The final network segment connecting the wider network to the customer premises.
- Latency
- The delay for data to travel across the network and back, commonly measured in milliseconds.
- ONT
- Optical network terminal; equipment that terminates a fibre connection at the premises.
- Premises
- The specific home, unit, suite, business or other location where service would be installed.
- Serviceability
- Whether a provider can actually supply and install the service at the exact premises.
- Upload speed
- The rate at which data travels from the customer toward the internet.
- Wi-Fi
- A local wireless connection between devices and a router or access point; it is not the same as the incoming internet service.