Some Digital Era Lingo that you must be familiar with

By Zatni Arbi

JAKARTA (JP): Here are just a few of the terms that you will be hearing more and more as we go deeper into the Digital era.

First, there is the term "dial-up connection". This refers to Internet connection through the ordinary telephone line using the modem, which stands between our computers and the public telephone network. Each time we want to connect to the Internet, we dial the phone number of the Internet service provider (ISP) that we subscribe to. Because we have to dial the number first, the connection is called "a dial-up Internet access".

Those who already subscribe to a satellite-based Internet service or TV cable network no longer have to dial up a phone number whenever they want to go online. Normally, their computers are continuously connected to the Internet -- unless the service is down or the PCs are not powered up. This type of connection to the Internet is increasingly called "always-on" connection.

An "always-on", or "persistent", service provider may charge its subscribers a flat monthly rate, or it may bill them based on how many bytes they have received from the Internet through the connection that it provides. Avid surfers naturally prefer the flat rate.

Then there is the term broadband. Every communication needs a path, a road, a pipeline or a conduit through which the information travels. The wider the path, the faster data can travel from, say, the speaker's mouth to the listener's ears. Rich multimedia information, which may include live video and audio, require a very wide highway because it has to be encoded in a huge number of data.

The most basic connection from a PC to the Internet is, of course, through the telephone line. This is also known as narrowband, because the path is so narrow. It means that you cannot really see a smooth video broadcast through the Internet if you are still using your ordinary modem. If you try, the video will be choppy, as from time to time the PC has to pause the video and wait for enough data to arrive before it can play it on the screen. With a broadband connection, the video data will arrive with adequate speed so the video can be played smoothly on the screen.

xDSL is another term that has become commonly used. The "x" here is actually a variable, as we have ADSL, HDSL, SDSL and VDSL. ADSL is a technology spearheaded by Alcatel, and it is used in Singapore where residents enjoy very fast connection to Singtel's Magix.

ADSL, which stands for "Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line", is the most important of all DSL types. It works on an ordinary telephone network. ADSL uses different frequencies on the telephone lines to carry data, so telephone calls can still be made while the computer is connected to the ISP. Unfortunately, it will be quite some time -- maybe never -- before we can have ADSL in Indonesia because the quality of our phone lines is generally too poor to support it.

As can be imagined, there are many flavors of ADSL. SDSL, on the other hand, stands for Symmetric DSL, HDSL means "High-bit- rate DSL", and VDSL "Very high-bit-rate DSL". When people talk about xDSL, chances are they have ADSL in mind.

ADSL is "asymmetric" because the downstream path (the path from the ISP's server to our PC at home) can be far wider than the upstream path (from our PC to the ISP's server). ADSL is the most suitable for Internet connection, as we almost always receive far more data than we send out.

Another term that you should get yourself very familiar with is the Personal Digital Assistants. These are small gadgets that can fit easily into your shirt pocket. It stores personal data such as names, addresses and phone numbers, memos and appointments. It also has a calendar and a calculator. The batteries are usually rechargeable but not replaceable. You can input your data by downloading it from your PC using a special cable, or you can use a stylus to scribble notes.

Some of the most popular PDAs are from Palm, Handspring, Compaq and Casio. Some of these can be attached to expansion modules. Some can even connect to the Internet without any cable. New versions of the PDAs even have modules that can turn them into cellular phones or digital cameras. At any rate, today, a person will not be considered really living in the Digital Era unless he has a PDA in his pocket.