Glossary of terms

This is a wireless connection to the internet using mobile telephone signal. Mostly used when roaming with your phone or mobile device, but some computers can also connect to a mobile network.

An improved mobile internet technology which provides a faster connection than 3G.

Basic Broadband is defined as being at least 2Mbps (Megabits per second).

The government department responsible for the national campaign to roll out superfast broadband to 95% of the country by December 2017. Find out more at Broadband Delivery UK

The title refers to the superfast broadband programme here in the East Riding. For more information, visit the About page.

BT (British Telecommunications) is a commercial company, BT Openreach look after the fibres, wires and cables that connect the country.

The time taken for data to be gathered and processed when downloading, uploading or streaming.

Bytes are a unit of memory or size of data. Usually you would count them in megabytes or gigabytes. These Bytes are stored in a series of 'Bits' (approx eights bytes to a bit), and these Bits are what measures the speed of your internet connection. For ease, think of bytes as the weight of your data, and the bits as the length it travels, thus, Megabits per second. This is why your data limit is valued by bytes (the weight of the data), but your broadband speed by bits (length travelled).

Another term for superfast broadband. It refers to a broadband connection using fibre optic cables. Many Internet Service Providers call their superfast broadband package 'fibre broadband'.

This is the use of a glass or plastic tube which sends network signals, rather than using copper cable. Fibre allows data to be sent at very high speeds and does not degrade over distance.

Provides high speed broadband services by deploying fibre optic cable to a street cabinet. The connection will usually continue via a copper cable to your home or office.

Sometimes called fibre to the home. It uses fibre-optic cable to deliver high speed broadband services direct to homes and offices.

1,000,000,000 bytes / 1,000 megabytes

Hardware refers to the physical computer devices, such as mobile phone, tablets, laptops, Smart TV, etc. If your hardware is old or you have not downloaded recent updates it can affect your broadband speed.

A global network in which you can access websites and online services.

Your internet service provider is whoever you choose to purchase a broadband contract from. There are many ISPs in the East Riding of Yorkshire, most of which can be found on the BT Openreach website.

Offers two-way Internet access via satellites. Your computer, through a special satellite modem, broadcasts requests to a satellite dish that sits on top of your home or business. The dish then sends and receives signals from satellites that orbit above the equator.

In the context of the Internet, speed refers to how fast a webpage loads, or an email sends, etc. It is measured in Mbps.

If you watch on demand TV and movies or listen to online radio, you are being sent a continuous stream of data and watching it in real time as it arrives, this is defined as "Streaming".

Superfast broadband has been defined by BDUK (Broadband Delivery UK) as being a connection of at least 24 Mbps (Megabits per second)

As technology advances, your devices may ask you to update. This downloads a newer version of software to your device.

Using the internet requires both sending and receiving data. Upload (occasionally known as upstream) is when you send data to the internet, for example, sending emails, posting a picture on social media, etc.

A facility allowing computers, smartphones, or other devices to connect to the Internet or communicate with one another wirelessly within a particular area.

Any type of computer network that is not connected by cables of any kind.