ZyXEL Communications 100WH The WAN Port, Terminology, Data Compression, Networking Compatibility

Prestige 100WH Internet Access Router

•Data Compression

Your Prestige incorporates Stac data compression to speed up data transfer. Stac is the de facto standard for compression over PPP links.

•Networking Compatibility

Your Prestige is compatible with remote access products from other manufacturers such as Ascend, Cisco, and 3Com. Furthermore, it supports Microsoft Windows 95 and Windows NT remote access capability.

1.3The WAN Port

The WAN port is a high-speed, asynchronous RS232 serial port that allows you to connect a modem or an ISDN Terminal Adapter (TA) to the Prestige. For brevity’s sake, we will refer to a modem or a TA categorically as an “external WAN device”, or simply a “WAN device” from now on.

The WAN port supports up to 460.8 kbps (kilobits per second) throughout, which is more than twice as fast as the fastest modem with V.42bis compression.

1.3.1Terminology

•DCE & DTE

On the two ends of an RS-232 connection, the equipment closest to the telephone line is called the DCE (Data Communications Equipment) and the other the DTE (Data Terminal Equipment). In our case, the modem or the ISDN TA is the DCE, and the Prestige is the DTE.

•PSTN & POTS

Collectively, the voice grade network of the telephone companies is called PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network), and a regular telephone line is often referred to as a POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service)

Chapter 1 Getting to Know Your Internet Access Router 1-3