The capacity of your internet connection to transmit and receive data. Bandwidth is usually measured in bits-per-second. Imagine your internet connection is a pipe, the bigger the pipe, the faster the information will flow. Broadband is between 10 and 40 times faster than a 56K dial up modem.

A general term for high speed digital internet connections.

The speed at which you can transfer files from the internet to your PC, usually measured in Mbps.

Gatekeeper hardware or software that guards against unauthorised access to your computer via the internet by hackers.

Gigabytes, this is a measure of how much data you can download from the internet. For instance you could download approximately 250 songs in one gigabyte.

Like the street address of your computer & stands for Internet Protocol address, the host computer assigned to you by your Internet Service Provider when you make a connection. A static IP address means your ISP permanently assigns your connection to a particular host computer. IP addresses are numeric, you may have noticed them occasionally in the address bar of your browser. For example, http://212.58.240.32 is better known as www.bbc.co.uk An internet service called DNS (Domain Name System/Service) translates the request for www.bbc.co.uk into the corresponding IP address.

Internet Service Provider. Typically this refers to the broadband company supplying your connectivity, e.g. BT, AOL, Virgin etc.

Megabits per second. A unit of bandwidth measurement that defines the speed at which information can be transferred through a network or Ethernet cable. One megabyte is roughly equivalent to eight megabits.

A device that sits between your computer and the internet and determines where to send your online data. Necessary when more than one computer is sharing a connection. Also known as a gateway or base station.

Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line, a broadband variant that signifies equal or near equal bandwidth up and downstream.

The speed at which you can transfer files from your PC to the internet, usually measured in Mbps & often only a fraction compared to your download speed.

Commonly used to signify the 802.11b standard - a form of wireless networking. Wireless-Fidelty allows the connection of two or more computers without the need for physical cabling between them. The most common forms of WiFi are 80211.b (capable of up to 11 Mb/Sec) and 802.11.g (capable of up to 54 Mb/Sec).

The use of radio signals to connect computers without cables whether it be a computer and a mouse or a network of computers that connect to the internet.

A device that exchanges data between wireless computers or between wireless computers and wired computers on a network.