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8. Wide area networks

Terms in this set (7)

circuit switching
A network configuration in which connections are negotiated between any data exchanged, such as making a phone call. Once a connection is established, a dedicated path exists, as constant and reliable as if the path is a direct electrical circuit.
demarcation point
The point at which the part of the network legally owned by the consumer is physically connected to that owned by the phone company. It is also called demarc.
digital subscriber line
A family of related technologies that carry data as a separate, high-frequency signal over the same physical cables of a voice telephone or ISDN line, without interfering with the telephone service.
packet switching
A networking process in which every host breaks its communication up into packets and individually sends them over the network to its destination.
public switched telephone network
A network in the dial-up access that uses an analog modem to connect through traditional voice telephone networks.
punchdown block
A type of electrical connection often used in telephony. It is named so because the solid copper wires are punched down into short and open-ended slots, which are a type of insulation-displacement connectors.
virtual circuit
A means of transporting data over a packet-switched computer network in such a way that it appears as though there is a dedicated physical layer link between the source and destination end systems of this data.
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