hop
An intermediate connection in a string of connections linking two network devices. On the Internet, for example, most data packets need to go through several routers before they reach their final destination. Each time the packet is forwarded to the next router, a hop occurs. The more hops, the longer it takes for data to go from source to destination. You can see how many hops it takes to get to another Internet host by using the PING or traceroute utilities.
Some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) advertise how many hops away from Internet backbone they are. Theoretically, the fewer hops it takes to get your data onto the backbone, the faster your access will be.
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- hop off
Point at which a call transitions from H.323 to non-H.323, typically at a gateway.
- host
(n) (1) A computer system that is accessed by a user working at a remote location. Typically, the term is used when there are two computer systems connected by modems and telephone lines. The system that contains the data is called the host, while the computer at which the user sits is called the remote […]
- host-based
Refers to any device that relies on the host computer (that is, the computer the device is attached to) to handle some operations. Two common examples are host-based printers and host-based modems.
- host-based modem
A modem that uses the computer’s processor to handle some operations. Because host-based modems require less processing power of their own, they should be less expensive than conventional modems. There are also software modems, in which there’s no modem device at all. Instead, all of the modem’s functions are handled by the computer’s processor. In […]
- host-based printer
A printer that relies on the host computer’s processor to generate printable pages. Most host-based printers on the market today use the GDI interface built into Windows. Because they don’t need a powerful processor of their own, host-based printers tend to be less expensive than conventional printers. But because they share your computer’s processor, they […]