Canadian internet education

Internet glossary

Use this glossary to understand common home internet terms before comparing providers, plans or equipment.

This page is general education. It does not confirm provider availability, pricing, or suitability at a specific address.

Fibre-to-the-home. Fibre reaches the home or building rather than stopping farther away.

Fibre-to-the-node. Fibre reaches a nearby node, then another wire may complete the connection.

Coaxial cable commonly used for cable internet and TV-style wiring.

Cable internet technology standard used by cable modems and gateways.

Optical network terminal used to connect fibre service to home networking equipment.

A combined provider device that may include modem or ONT functions plus router and Wi-Fi.

The device that manages home Wi-Fi, Ethernet, firewall and local network traffic.

A Wi-Fi system using multiple units to improve coverage in larger or difficult homes.

Delay between sending and receiving data. Important for gaming and video calls.

Variation in latency. High jitter can make calls or games feel unstable.

How quickly your connection sends data out from your home.

How quickly your connection receives data into your home.

A mode that can let a provider gateway pass connection duties to your own router.

Carrier-grade NAT. A network setup that can affect hosting, remote access or some games.

Installation where the customer connects equipment without a technician visit.

Related guides

Read the how to compare internet providers guide.

Read the upload speed guide.

Read the router vs modem guide.

Read the fibre internet guide.

Read the cable internet guide.