FAQs

1.WHAT IS AN ISP?

An Internet Service Provider (ISP) is a business or organization that offers users access to the Internet and related services. They provide services like Internet, domain name registration and hosting, VoIP etc. ISPs operate at the fourth or lowest level of the Internet. At the third level, regional providers aggregate traffic from lower-order ISPs to the second, backbone level. The highest level in North America is the NAP (Network Access Point) which act as peer-to-peer interconnection points for the largest backbones.

2.WHAT IS AN IP VPN ?

A virtual private network (VPN) is the use of a secure data transfer protocol to connect computing resources over a shared or public infrastructure. This, in effect, creates a corporate widearea network (WAN) or extranet, without installing or leasing dedicated lines. By configuring a VPN, computers or networks can share data just the same as if they were connected via cable in a point-to-point LAN. The security of the VPN is assured either by establishing virtual circuits, or by using tunnelling techniques which hide the source and destination addresses and encrypt the data. The benefit of a VPN is it allows an organisation to have secure connections to geographically separated offices or suppliers using low-cost local lines, instead of expensive leased lines. The protocols that support IP VPN are PPTP, IPsec, L2F, L2TP.

3. Dial up Connection

With Dial up Service you can get connected to the Internet through your Telephone Line, maximum speed of connection is 56Kpbs.The modem in your PC connects to ABCom, and every time it connects, an IP is automatically assigned. In this way, your ISP can recognize your PC, and make sure you can send and receive E-mail, browse the internet etc. So, this IP address tells the ISP where to send the information you require. The fact that your IP address changes, makes your internet connection more secure.

4.What is ADSL?

Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) technology is asymmetric. It allows more bandwidth downstream—from an NSP's central office to the customer site—than upstream from the subscriber to the central office. This asymmetry, combined with always-on access (which eliminates call setup), makes ADSL ideal for Internet/intranet surfing, video-on-demand, and remote LAN access. Users of these applications typically download much more information than they send. ADSL transmits data with 9 Mb/s in downstream, and 1 Mb/s in upstream.

5 PPPoE Technology

PPoE stands for Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet. PPPoE has become a favorite technology of broadband Internet service providers, who use it to save time and money. DSL and cable modem subscribers, on the other hand, have reason to be less enthusiastic about PPPoE.

Many home networkers do not even know if their connection to the Internet uses PPPoE. If one's cable or DSL setup requires "logging in" to the Internet, most likely this setup involves PPPoE.Through PPPoE, a home computer obtains an IP address (similar to DHCP) and the ISP gets an easy way to track that IP address to a specific username and password.

PPPoE is based on an older network protocol called Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP), designed for use with slower serial lines rather than the Ethernet links used by today's broadband modems. PPPoE has two distinct stages. There is a Discovery stage and a PPP Session stage. When a Host wishes to initiate a PPPoE session, it must first perform Discovery to identify the Ethernet MAC address of the peer and establish a PPPoE SESSION_ID. While PPP defines a peer-to-peer relationship, Discovery is inherently a client-server relationship. In the Discovery process, a Host (the client) discovers an Access Concentrator (the server). Based on the network topology, there may be more than one Access Concentrator that the Host can communicate with. The Discovery stage allows the Host to discover all Access Concentrators and then select one. When Discovery completes successfully, both the Host and the selected Access Concentrator have the information they will use to build their point-to-point connection over Ethernet.   The Discovery stage remains stateless until a PPP session is established. Once a PPP session is established, both the Host and the Access Concentrator must allocate the resources for a PPP virtual interface.

6. VoIP

Voice over Internet Protocol, also called VoIP, is the routing of voice conversations over the Internet or through any other IP-based network. There are several protocols and methods for VoIP calls – the commonest standards aretermed SIP and H.323 There are two types of PSTN to VoIP services: DID (Direct Inward Dialing) and access numbers. DID will connect the caller directly to the VoIP user while access numbers require the caller to input the extension number of the VoIP user. Access numbers are usually charged as a local call to the caller and free to the VoIP user while DID usually has a monthly fee.

7.What is Domain Name?

A domain name usually consists of two or more parts (technically labels), separated by dots. The rightmost label conveys the top-level domain (for example, the address en.wikipedia.org has the top-level domain org). Each label to the left specifies a subdivision or subdomain of the domain above it. Note that "subdomain" expresses relative dependence, not absolute dependence: for example, wikipedia.org comprises a subdomain of the org domain, and en.wikipedia.org comprises a subdomain of the domain.

The DNS consists of a hierarchical set of DNS servers. Each domain or subdomain has one or more authoritative DNS servers that publish information about that domain and the name servers of any domains "beneath" it. The hierarchy of authoritative DNS servers matches the hierarchy of domains. At the top of the hierarchy stand the root nameservers: the servers to query when looking up (resolving) a top-level domain name (TLD).Every time you use a domain name, therefore, a DNS service must translate the name into the corresponding IP address. For example, the domain name www.example.com might translate to 198.115.200.6. If one DNS server doesn't know how to translate a particular domain name, it asks another one, and so on, until the correct IP address is returned.

8. What is Ethernet?

Ethernet is the IEEE 802.3 series standard, based on the CSMA/CD access method that provides two or more stations to share a common cabling system. This access method, Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection, is the basis for Ethernet systems which range from speeds of 1 Mb/s through 1000 Mb/s.The design goals for Ethernet were to create a simply defined topology that made efficient use of shared resources, was easy to reconfigure and maintain, provided compatibility across many manufacturers and systems, while keeping the cost low. Most modern Ethernet networks use twisted pair copper cabling or fiber to attach devices to the network.

Three are the topologies that operates the Ethernet:

10 Mbps—10Base-T Ethernet

100 Mbps—Fast Ethernet

1000 Mbps—Gigabit Ethernet

9. What is the difference between dynamic IP and static IP

The IP address from your ISP is assigned one of two ways:

Because a static IP can be relied on for an indefinite period, some networking software requires a static IP. ISPs usually charge extra for static IPs. Your ISP may not be willing to give their customers static IP addresses at all.Dynamic IPs are used in large networks where computers are frequently reconfigured, or where a limited number of IP address are available to share between many computers.