Broadband - Is a category that that describes high speed Internet access services such as DSL, ISDN, or Cable.

Browser - Is a software program that allows someone to look at web sites and other Internet information on the World Wide Web. The two most common ones in use today are Netscape's Navigator and Microsoft's Internet Explorer.

Cache - Copies of web sites are stored on your local machine to speed up the re-accessing of those particular sites. In short, caching speeds up access to web sites that you have recently visited.

Computer Files - Are electronic data. These can be games, text files, programs, pictures or other forms of electronic data.

Download - The process of receiving or taking computer files from another computer and putting them on your computer.

DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) - Is a type of broadband technology that allows for high speed Internet access. DSL is 50 to 100 times faster than a 56k modem. It is dedicated access, meaning that a user is connected 24/7. A nice feature of DSL is that it does not tie up your existing phone line like a modem does.

E-Commerce - Is software that allows for credit card transactions to be processed through the web. E-Commerce  allows customers to securely purchase products over the web using credit cards.

E-mail (Electronic Mail) - Is one of the more popular services on the Internet. Instead of sending regular mail, you can send electronic data to other people, including text, images, and other files. It is cheaper and much faster than sending regular mail. In order to receive email you need an email address. Pacific Online provides Global Email which allows you to check your email anywhere in the world from a computer connected to the Internet. You can access this at http://mx.pon.net  

E-mail Address - Is your own personal identifer when sending and receiving email. A typical email address looks like the following: johndoe@pon.net Send an email to Mr. Doe and he will reply.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) - Allows users to send and receive computer files between computers, or two Internet sites. See also the Upload and Download definitions.

Hardware - Are the physical components of a computer system. Contrast with software. Examples are a computer, modem, printer, monitor, network card, router, RAM.

Home Page - This refers to the main page on a web site.  What is our home page? Answer: www.pon.net

HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) - Is the language used for creating all the web sites that are available on the world wide web. Today if you wanted to create your own web site, you do not need to know HTML. There are programs such as Front Page, that allow you to create web sites without prior knowledge of HTML.

Intranet - Is not to be confused with Internet (see below). This is a network for internal use only.

Internet - Is a collection of many thousands of inter-connected networks.

ISP (Internet Service Provider) An ISP like Pacific Online www.pon.net  provides a user with a connection to the Internet.

LAN  (Local Area Network) - Is two or more computers linked together so that information can be passed between them. A LAN can be as few as two computers, however there are often many computers in a single LAN. Many businesses, offices or entire office floors use a LAN.

Ping - Sends varying amounts of data to a specific location in order to test if that location is available and online. Ping also provides response times of a particular site (is it slow or fast). Often you hear ping used in association with pinging another web site to see if it is online and what its response time is.

POP (Post Office Protocol) - Is a system of how the Internet picks up email addressed to you, and downloads it to your computer.

POP (Point of Presence)

PPP (Point to Point Protocol) - Is the method for connecting a computer to the Internet via a phone line.

Search Engine - A website that allows you to search for particular bits of information on the Internet. You can think of search engines like online encyclopedias.

Server - Is simply another computer or software package that provides a particular service for a user. Examples are a mail server, file server, FTP server.

Shareware - This is software that is free for distribution. The author of the software expects no payment.

Shockwave - A program that allows you to view multimedia and action on web sites. Instead of being static these web sites are dynamic.

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) - This is how email is delivered between computers on the Internet. An SMTP server is where you would send your email before it is delivered to your desired recipient.

Software - Electronic programs that provide a service are considered software. Software are programs that are run on computers. Examples are word processing programs, games, and browsers among many others.

Spam - The Internet's version of junk mail.

Start Page - The initial web page your browser displays when it is first opened. You can set your browser to load up a particular start page if you like.

T1 / DS1 (1.5Mbit high speed connection)

Telephony - The ability to place phone calls using your computer

Upload - The process of sending files from your computer to another computer.

URL (Uniform Resource Locator) - This is the standard method for providing a web address. If someone asks for our URL, we give them www.pon.net

WWW (World Wide Web) - Is a system that allows users to travel through linked documents. It is the system that allows you to travel between web sites, from one link to another.