Mobile Broadband  and  Mobile Data Connection Glossary

Broadband:  Broadband or high-speed Internet access allows users access to the internet and internet-related services. Broadband speeds vary significantly due to the specific type and level of service subscribed to and may range from as low as 200 kilobits per second (kbps), to six megabits per second (Mbps), or even more.

3G broadband: What is 3G broadband? It's currently the most common manner most cell phones and mobile computers access the internet using a signal from a mobile internet service provider. It is called 3G because it is the 'third generation' of mobile technology.  nearly all of the US, UK and Europe is now covered by 3G network signals from the leading suppliers.

Anti-spam: Some of these solutions are embedded in products, services and.  Some anti-spam takes place at the network level before ever reaching computers, others are built-in, some need to be added to email clients like Outlook.  No single solution is a complete solution to the spam problem.  Each technique comes with trade-offs between incorrectly rejecting legitimate e-mail versus not rejecting all spam; along with the associated costs in time and effort.
Anti-spam methods are broken into four general categories: those that need actions by individuals, those that can be automated by systems administrators, those that can be automated by e-mail senders and those employed by researchers and law enforcement officials.

Anti-virus: This is software used to protect computers, laptops, and smartphones from malicious internet (including email) transferred malware.  Malware is malicious software programs normally designed to be intrusive or damaging.  Computer viruses, Trojan horses and worms are typical forms of malware.

Malware can damage your computer, laptop or cell phone and may copy your personal information or just be annoying.

There are many bad people out there looking to make trouble and some kind of anti-virus software application is required on a broadband-enabled computers, laptops, and or smartphones.   

Namebrand anti-virus software applications such as Norton or McAfee are sometimes bundled by mobile internet service providers and offered for free.  Other people rely on free versions of products such as Avast and AVG.  One way or another – the reality is an anti-virus software program is highly recommended to protect computers, notebooks, and smartphones.

Anti-spyware: Spyware is broad category of malicious software that can insert itself on computers, and cell phones via broadband internet connections. Spyware is designed to intercept or take partial control of a computer or smartphone operation without permission from the device’s owner or legitimate user.  Spyware is nasty computer software programs that surreptitiously obtain, monitor and report data from a person’s computer without their knowledge or consent.  This can include private data such as details of sites visited, and even e-mail.

Capping:  In mobile broadband  terms capping describes a cap, or limitation, on the allowable quantity of data to download under terms a certain contract.  When the cap is exceeded, additional fees often apply.

Dongle: In mobile network  terms dongle has been almost universally adopted to describe the small device that plugs into another internet-enabled device to pick-up a mobile broadband  signal.  Also sometimes called a 'stick', these devices plug easily into a USB port on a laptop or PC and contain a SIM card from a mobile network provider, in the same way a smartphone accesses data and the internet.

Bandwidth Download speed: Bandwidth Download speed refers to how quickly a file (of data) can be downloaded from a remote source.  This mobile internet connection term  describes how fast a connection can deliver data to a computer.  To "download" something means to put it on your computer, typically over the internet.    The download speed is measured by how much of the file is transferred to you over a certain amount of time.  It used to be most download speeds were measured in kb/s, kilobytes per second, or thousands of (data) bytes per second; however fortunately currently it is more typical to measure this connection speed it megabytes or millions of bytes per second.

Femtocells: Femtocells use data connection and boost the 3G signal to make handsets - and devices with a dongle – perform better.   A femtocell is a wireless access point that delivers localized 3G broadband coverage.  Typically it is very small base station that receives internet connection provider or ISP signals and boosts it around a small area, such as your house, office or event center.  They are expected to become quite common and will play an integral role in location based services and marketing.

Firewall: A firewall is a software component used to stop unwanted traffic arriving on computers, laptops or mobile phones via the internet. The firewall will evaluate incoming data that connect to the computers, laptops or smartphones, and if it doesn't meet the settings allocated to it, the data transfer will be stopped.

A good firewall virus software program is necessary to protect computers, notebooks, and mobile phones with a broadband connection.   Malicious software can sometimes get around  firewall restrictions and a firewall alone cannot  maintain computer  and mobile phone protection.

Fixed-line: Fixed-line broadband is a term used to describe either cable or ADSL internet connections.  The term is primarily used to differentiate fixed-line broadband from mobile broadband which is wireless and uses a mobile internet connection signal network.

Gb (or gigabit): Giga means one billion. Gb  (note the small b) short for   gigabit, a unit used to describe the speed at which data travels across an internet connection (also sometimes written as Gbps, or gigabits per second). Current broadband connections are measured in Mb (megabits per second) - there are 1024Mb in 1Gb.

GB (or Gbps, or gigabyte): GB is an abbreviation of  gigabyte, which is often used to describe the size of computer files and memory storage capacity. There are 1024 bytes in a kilobyte (KB), 1024 kilobytes in a megabyte (MB), and 1024 megabytes in a gigabyte. For comparison, a small Notepad file is typically measured in bytes, a basic Word document in kilobytes, a music file in megabytes and a DVD movie in gigabytes.

HSPA, HSDPA, HSUPA: HSPA stands for 'high speed packet access'. HSDPA is an acronym for ‘high speed download packet access' and HSUPA stands 'high speed upload' packet access’, each describes the same technology either sending or receiving data.  It is the latest advancement in quality for mobile broadband usage, working on various 3G mobile data connection networks to improve the speed of data transfer.

HSPA Evolved, HSPA+: The next generation of HSPA is Evolved HSPA (or HSPA+) with possible mobile broadband speeds up to 42Mb.

ISP:ISP stands for internet service provider.

KB (or Kbps, or kilobyte): KB is short for  kilobyte, which is a term used to describe  the size of computer files and storage capacity.

LTE: LTE stands for Long Term Evolution, and is one of the next generation of mobile broadband technology.  It is said to be capable of data transfer rates 15 to 100 times faster than current 3G mobile networks.

Mb (or Mbps, or megabit): Mb is a contraction of Megabit, and also written as Mbps, which stands for megabits per second.  Mb commonly is used to express the measurement of internet speeds. A Mb is 1024Kb, while there are 1024Mb in a Gb.

MB (or megabyte): MB is short for for megabyte, which is a term used to express the size of computer files and storage capacity.

Mi-Fi (or MiFi): Is hardware that, like a dongle, receives a mobile broadband signal. However, unlike a dongle (which plugs directly into a laptop or other internet enabled device), the Mi-Fi device distributes the signal wirelessly using Wi-Fi.

Wi-Fi: Pronounced ‘why-fye’, Wi-Fi is short for Wireless Fidelity. It is a trademarked term of the Wi-Fi Alliance that manufacturers may use to brand certified products that belong to a class of wireless local area network (WLAN) devices based on the IEEE 802.11 standards.

But, commonly it means any electronic items that function over a Wi-Fi network, technically but less likely referred to as a WLAN.  Because of the close relationship with its underlying standard, the the term Wi-Fi is often used synonymously for IEEE 802.11 technology.

WiMAX: This expression is short for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access - a new broadband technology that claims to offer a wireless broadband alternative without the need for cables. Similarly to LTE, WiMAX is being touted as the next generation of mobile broadband.
WLAN: WLAN is short for for wireless local area network, and is more commonly called Wi-Fi.

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