What's in a name?

[BudVitoff]

It's true what they say about age affecting memory.

I'm trying to remember what categorical/generic term applies to a software destination in a router. For example, I have a dual-band router. The 2.4 band has a title and the 5.0 band, of course, has a different title. What do you call the term that apples to either of these?

Please hurry with your answer before I forget why I submitted this post in the first place.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

Your router, in terms of WiFi, is known as an access point and powered network (in different bands) each one with a SSID that is its (hopefully) unique name.

 

[BudVitoff]

****! Thank you for trying, but that's not the term I'm looking for. I hope that this make sense, but the word I'm looking for is more common than it is technical. I keep thinking that it ends in "net" or something like that, but that's the best this old brain can come up with.

 

[MacInWin]

Well, intranet, as opposed to internet, is a term used to define the network inside the router/firewall. Is that it? Also Local Area Network, or LAN is term for your local net, again inside the modem/router/firewall.

EDIT: Also subnet is a term for a subset of a network.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

There.are.so.many.words.

How about just ​network?

 

[BudVitoff]

I don't know if it's my memory going bad or if I'm just being stupid. I don't think it's the latter, because I started my programming career in 1957, so I've learned a lot of stuff over the years, although it's only in the last decade or two that I've gotten involved with routers and modems, etc. Oh, for the good old days at Univac: One operator, one programmer close by, one typewriter to communicate with a single-task computer with its dozen or so tape drives, no operating system ...

Thanks guys, we're close though. Don't give up on me -- keep trying.

 

[MacInWin]

Bud, can you give us the sentence into which the elusive term should go? Something like, "My printer and computer are both in xxxxxx." where we fill in the XXXXX for you?

 

[MacInWin]

Is it "domain?" Two brain cells connected and spit that out for me.

 

[pigoo3]

@Bud: What Ashwin mentioned above "SSID" is very likely what you're looking for. Check out this article for the details:

What is Service Set Identifier (SSID)? Webopedia Definition

From the article:

"SSID is short for service set identifier. In layman's terms, an SSID is the name for a Wi-Fi network."

SSID is basically the professional name/acronyn for a WiFi networks "common" name.

- Nick

p.s. Hopefully you're not looking for a computing term that's "Vintage 1957". No WiFi networks in 1957!

 

[BudVitoff]

Great idea!

Let's say that my grandson (who lives right across the street from me) wants to use a computer, but his mom is tying theirs up, so he comes over here. "Can I use your computer, Boppa?" Of course, I say yes.

He gets on, and he discovers that I have a dual-band router with two xxx's with different names (SSID's) but use the same password. He asks me "which xxx should I use?"

Does that help at all?

I just took a look at the Modem configuration site, and they toss "SSID" and "Network" back and forth -- that just might be the end of this short story.

 

[pigoo3]

He gets on, and he discovers that I have a dual-band router with two xxx's with different names (SSID's) but use the same password. He asks me "which xxx should I use?"

Does that help at all?

To keep things simple (since the passwords for both bands are the same)...I would tell the grandson to use either network.

Of course dual band routers usually have a 2.4 and 5.0 Ghz bands...and each band has pro's & con's in terms of network performance.

And if you wanted to more simply discover what those differences are...log into each network...visit a site like speedtest.net...and run the speed test with each network. This will give you the upload & download speed of each network...then you choose the faster network. Do this from the same location of course.

But if you change locations in your house (further from the router)...then you got to do these tests again to see which WiFi network is faster. Since when you get further from the router...and you have more walls & ceilings between your computer & the router...this is where the pro's & con's of 2.4 & 5.0 Ghz networks come into play.

HTH,

- Nick

 

[BudVitoff]

Well, you've used "network" eight times there, so that sounds like it should be the right choice, but I think it still falls short of the mark for me. Maybe I should just go with that and -- this happens to me alot -- some night in a dream it will come to me.

 

[MacInWin]

Frankly, I would use "subnet" for those two.

 

[BudVitoff]

Is there no way to remove a post if you discover that you're repeating yourself? ;P

 

[MacInWin]

Nope, errors live forever, Bud! You could edit it and blank it out, but the spoor remains...

 

[BudVitoff]

Okay, thanks for all the support guys. I'm going back to bed.

Remember to wash your hands!

 

[toMACsh]

Dragnet?
Hairnet?

Dance Band?
Broadband / Narrowband ?

Just brainstorming, like...
"A spoonful of Clorox makes the temperature go down"

No, there's no connection

 

[BudVitoff]

Jake,

I had to ask Siri what "spoor" meant.

 

[toMACsh]

Bud,

Good idea to have Siri hunt that down for you.

 

[Cr00zng]

Bud...

It's like the old saying:

Every road leads to Rome...

The roads leading to Rome have names and your GPS gives you direction for getting there. Alternative hard way, you can use a map...

The modernized version addressing your question:

Every network leads to the Internet...

Yes, in generic term, network is pretty much equal to road.

Just like roads, networks have names too; the names also have more specific identifiers:

• Network: can be wired and wireless
• Wired network: Ethernet or Fiber, usually called LAN
• Wireless: 802.11x, usually called WiFi network, Bluetooth, Microwave, etc.

You could attach the word network after any specific identifier.

Your 802.11x WiFi router has two logically separated networks, even if their names (SSID) are the same. One (2.4 GHz band) is like a two lanes highway, while the other is the 5 GHz 4-6 lanes highway. The latter one can provide more connections and faster speed, but shorter range than the former one.

Your computer initially gets the the type of network information and from there, it will find a way to access the Internet. Provided the network in question is working...

PS: Networks not addressed: BAN, Token-ring, Sneaker-NET, etc., but they do fall under one of the three categories...