HP 100 Router manual Glossary

GLOSSARY

10BASE-TThe IEEE specification for 10 Mbps Ethernet over Category 3, 4 or 5 twisted pair cable.

100BASE-TXThe IEEE specification for 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet over Category 5 twisted-pair cable.

Access Point An Access Point is a device through which wireless clients connect to other wireless clients and which acts as a bridge between wireless clients and a wired network, such as Ethernet. Wireless clients can be moved anywhere within the coverage area of the access point and still connect with each other. If connected to an Ethernet network, the access point monitors Ethernet traffic and forwards appropriate Ethernet messages to the wireless network, while also monitoring wireless client radio traffic and forwarding wireless client messages to the Ethernet LAN.

Auto-negotiationSome devices in the range support auto-negotiation. Auto-negotiation is where two devices sharing a link, automatically configure to use the best common speed. The order of preference (best first) is: 100BASE-TX full duplex, 100BASE-TX half duplex, 10BASE-T full duplex, and 10BASE-T half duplex. Auto-negotiation is defined in the IEEE 802.3 standard for Ethernet and is an operation that takes place in a few milliseconds.

Bandwidth The information capacity, measured in bits per second, that a channel can transmit. The bandwidth of Ethernet is 10 Mbps, the bandwidth of Fast Ethernet is 100 Mbps. The bandwidth for 802.11b wireless is 11Mbps.

Category 3 Cables One of five grades of Twisted Pair (TP) cabling defined by the EIA/TIA-586 standard. Category 3 is voice grade cable and can only be used in Ethernet networks (10BASE-T) to transmit data at speeds of up to 10 Mbps.