Glossary
Telecommunications, computing, and internetworking technologies often have an enormous amount of jargon associated with them. This jargon makes it possible to speak precisely and quickly to others who are in-the-know, but can also drastically increase the learning curve for newcomers. We offer this page as a quick reference guide for common terms, acronyms, and other abbreviations that NYC Mesh technical teams use on a regular basis.
A
︎︎︎Antenna Antenna, router and radio are often confused- see our FAQ︎︎︎AP a wifi Access Point
︎︎︎ARIN American Registry for Internet Numbers- where you get your ASN
︎︎︎ASN Autonomous System Number that identifies your network on BGP for peering. NYC Mesh’s number is AS395853
B
︎︎︎Backhaul very high bandwidth connections, usually point to point.︎︎︎BGP This is the routing protocol of the Internet. We use it to connect at an IXP
︎︎︎BMX6 An ad-hoc mesh protocol we use. (BatMan eXperimental 6)
︎︎︎BuB “Bottom up Broadband” The beneficiaries of the networks actively participate in the planning, deployment and maintenance tasks.
C
︎︎︎Captive portal a web page that is shown before connecting to the Internet normally︎︎︎Cjdns Caleb James DeLisle’s Network Suite. Encrypted IPv6 mesh protocol.
︎︎︎Clearnet the regular internet as opposed to the hidden web (Tor, I2P, Freenet)
︎︎︎Commons The commons include public libraries, the Internet, parks and roads and some mesh networks. Guifi has a “Wireless Commons License”.
︎︎︎CPE Customer premises equipment (e.g. a LiteBeam, NanoStation, home router). ISP jargon
D
︎︎︎Dark fiber fiber cable that is not connected.︎︎︎DHCP or “Automatic” setting will automatically try to get you an IP address and subnet mask
E
︎︎︎Ethernet cable The cable we use that has 8 wires for carrying data and powerF
︎︎︎FFTF Fiber From The Farms Broadband Initiative – Guifi term for BuB︎︎︎FNF Free Network Foundation
G
︎︎︎Guifi The largest community owned network, based in Catalonia, SpainH
︎︎︎HNA Host and Network Association information used by mesh protocolsI
︎︎︎IPv4 the most common version of the Internet Protocol (IP), An IPv4 address consists of four octets e.g. 192.168.1.20︎︎︎IPv6 6th version of Internet Protocol. Designed to replace IPv4. (e.g. 2001:db8:0:1:1:1:1:1)
︎︎︎ISP Internet Service Provider
︎︎︎IXP Internet Exchange Point, where internet networks come together to peer or exchange traffic between their networks. (An IXP is a network and not really a “point” or a building)
J
K
L
︎︎︎LIR local Internet registry, an organization that has been allocated a block of IP addresses by a regional Internet registry (RIR)︎︎︎LuCI (pronounced Lucy) Lua Unified Configuration Interface, the web interface in OpenWRT
M
︎︎︎MANET Mobile Ad-hoc NETworkN
︎︎︎NAT Network address translation- a method of remapping one IP address space into another︎︎︎node WiFi router or other routing devices in a particular location on a network
O
︎︎︎OLSR Optimized Link State Routing Protocol (popular mesh protocol)︎︎︎OpenWRT Open source Wireless Receiver/Transmitter (WRT) software
︎︎︎OSPF a popular dynamic routing protocol
P
︎︎︎Peering An agreement between two networks to connect and exchange traffic without charge︎︎︎P2P Point-to-point connection between two antennas
︎︎︎P2MP Point-to-multipoint connection (e.g. between one sector antenna and multiple smaller antennas)
︎︎︎POE Power over ethernet (how Ubiquiti routers get 24 volt power)
Q
R
︎︎︎Radio The wireless receiver/transmitter part of a router ︎︎︎Router Antenna, router and radio are often confused- see our FAQ︎︎︎RIR Regional Internet registry
S
︎︎︎Sector antenna a directional antenna designed to connect to many other antennas. Typical “sectors” are 90 degrees or 120 degrees︎︎︎ SSID Service set identification- the Wi-Fi access point name
︎︎︎Supernode This is a large install, typically with a fiber connection and many sector and point-to-point antennas
T
U
V
W
︎︎︎WAP Wireless Access Point︎︎︎WDS Wireless Distribution System, A mesh protocol we use
︎︎︎WISP Wireless ISP
︎︎︎WNDW Wireless Networking in the Developing World – essential book
︎︎︎WRT Wireless Receiver/Transmitter software (WRT)