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Plain-English definitions of the terms you meet when connecting routers, sensors and sites over 4G and 5G. Each one links to a fuller guide in our technology hub or explainers. 50 terms, and growing.
A
- Antenna gain (dBi)
- How strongly an antenna focuses signal in one direction compared with a theoretical antenna radiating equally in all directions. Higher gain means a narrower, longer reach. Read the guide
- APN
- Access Point Name: the setting that tells a router which mobile data gateway to use. The wrong APN is a common reason a router will not connect. Read the guide
B
- Bonding
- Combining two or more connections into one faster, more resilient link, unlike failover which uses one at a time. Read the guide
C
- Carrier aggregation
- Combining several frequency bands at once to increase speed. Supported from LTE Cat 6 upwards. Read the guide
- CGNAT
- Carrier-grade NAT: mobile networks share public addresses between many users, so devices behind a standard SIM cannot be reached from the internet. Read the guide
- CVE
- Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures: the public catalogue of known security weaknesses, each with an ID that manufacturers reference in their fixes. Read the guide
D
- Directional antenna
- An antenna aimed at one mast to reach further, usually in rural areas. Read the guide
- Dual modem
- A router with two separate mobile modems, so two networks can be connected at the same time rather than one after the other. Read the guide
- Dual SIM
- A router with two SIM slots that can switch between networks if one fails or signal drops. Read the guide
E
- End of life (EOL)
- When a manufacturer stops making or updating a product. An end-of-life router no longer receives security fixes and should be planned for replacement. Read the guide
- eSIM
- An embedded SIM whose network profile can be downloaded and changed remotely. Read the guide
F
- Failover
- Automatically switching to a backup connection when the main one fails, then back again when it recovers. Read the guide
- Firmware
- The operating software on a router or device. Updates fix security weaknesses and add features, so keeping it current matters. Read the guide
- Fixed IP SIM
- A SIM that gives the router the same public IP address every time, so you can connect in to it. Read the guide
- Frequency band
- A range of radio frequencies a network uses, such as band 20 (800 MHz) for 4G coverage or n78 (3.4 to 3.8 GHz) for 5G capacity. Routers and antennas must support the bands in use. Read the guide
- FWA
- Fixed wireless access: using 4G or 5G as the main broadband line for a building. Read the guide
G
- 5G
- The fifth generation of mobile networks, offering higher speeds, more capacity and, on standalone networks, lower latency. Read the guide
- 4G LTE
- The fourth generation of mobile network technology and still the backbone of UK IoT and business connectivity. Read the guide
- 5G NSA and SA
- Non-standalone 5G uses a 4G core network for control; standalone 5G has its own core, enabling lower latency and network slicing. Read the guide
- 5G RedCap
- Reduced Capability 5G: simpler, lower power 5G for IoT devices that do not need full 5G speeds. Read the guide
- GNSS
- Global Navigation Satellite System: the umbrella term for GPS, Galileo, GLONASS and BeiDou. Read the guide
I
- IP rating
- Ingress Protection rating, such as IP67, describing how well a device resists dust and water.
L
- LoRaWAN
- A long-range, low-power radio network for battery sensors, with gateways forwarding the data. Read the guide
- LTE category
- A number (Cat 1, Cat 4, Cat 6 and so on) describing the maximum speed and features of a 4G modem. Read the guide
- LTE-M and NB-IoT
- Low-power versions of 4G for sensors and meters that send small amounts of data. Read the guide
M
- M2M
- Machine to machine: devices communicating with systems without a person involved, such as a meter reporting readings. Read the guide
- MIMO
- Multiple input, multiple output: using two or four antennas at once to improve speed and reliability. Read the guide
- Modbus
- An industrial protocol for reading meters, PLCs and controllers, over serial (RTU) or Ethernet (TCP). Read the guide
- MQTT
- A lightweight publish and subscribe messaging protocol widely used to send IoT data to cloud platforms. Read the guide
- Multi-IMSI SIM
- A SIM holding several network identities so it can switch between networks. Read the guide
- Multi-network SIM
- A SIM that can use more than one UK network, switching if the first is unavailable. Read the guide
N
- Network slicing
- Dividing a 5G standalone network into virtual networks with their own performance guarantees. Read the guide
O
- Omni-directional antenna
- An antenna that receives signal from all directions, suiting towns and vehicles. Read the guide
- OT (operational technology)
- Equipment that runs physical processes, such as PLCs, controllers, meters and building systems, increasingly connected through cellular routers. Read the guide
P
- PoE
- Power over Ethernet: power and data on one Ethernet cable, for cameras and access points. Read the guide
- Private APN
- A closed mobile network where devices get fixed private addresses reachable only from your systems. Read the guide
R
- RMS
- Teltonika Remote Management System: cloud monitoring, configuration and remote access for Teltonika devices. Read the guide
- RMS credits
- Teltonika's pay-as-you-go unit for RMS: one credit keeps one device on RMS for 30 days, or converts to 2 GB of connection data. Read the guide
- RSRP
- Reference Signal Received Power: the main 4G and 5G signal strength reading. Closer to zero is stronger. Read the guide
- RSRQ and SINR
- Readings that describe signal quality rather than strength. Good quality matters as much as a strong signal. Read the guide
- RutOS
- The operating system on Teltonika routers and gateways. Read the guide
S
- SD-WAN
- Software-defined WAN: managing several internet connections centrally, choosing or combining links by policy rather than by hand. Read the guide
- Serial (RS232 and RS485)
- Older wired connections still used by much industrial equipment. RS485 runs longer distances and supports several devices. Read the guide
- SMA and TS9
- Common antenna connectors on routers. SMA screws on; TS9 is a small push-fit connector used on some modems. Read the guide
V
- VLAN
- Virtual LAN: separating traffic on the same switches, such as guest Wi-Fi and business systems. Read the guide
- VPN
- Virtual private network: an encrypted tunnel for secure access to remote equipment. Read the guide
W
- WAN
- Wide area network: the router's connection to the outside world, such as 4G, fibre or satellite. Read the guide
- WANplex
- Teltonika's RMS service for SD-WAN bonding and failover, combining a router's connections into one and paid for with RMS credits. Read the guide
- Wi-Fi 6
- The 802.11ax Wi-Fi standard, more efficient when many devices share a network. Read the guide
- WireGuard
- A modern, fast VPN protocol supported on Teltonika routers. Read the guide
No matching term. Ask us and we will explain it.
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