This is where you enter the cell phone number and select your cell phone carrier to set where your SMS notifications are sent. Different aspects of your online profile may initiate SMS notifications to you.
SMS stands for Short Message Service, which basically means text messages over your cell phone.
There is no charge for us to send you SMS messages, but... check with your cell phone provider, as they may charge you to receive them. Most cell phone plans now include a certain amount of SMS messages or it may include an unlimited amount of text messages.
Best bet, if you don't know for sure, is to check with your cell phone carrier.
Until you are sure you will not be charged by your cell phone carrier, or you agree to accept these charges by your cell phone carrier, leave this setting set to No.
VoIP is an acronym (V.O.I.P) which stands for "Voice over IP". VoIP is the process of making and receiving voice transmissions over any IP network such as the Internet, an office LAN or a private network between corporate offices.
VoIP is also called IP Telephony. Voice conversations are converted into digitized data and packetized for transmission across a network. This type of phone transmission is commonly referred to as VoIP or Voice over Broadband because of the nature of the actual IP transmission.
Packet Switching is a far more efficient method of transmitting data across a large network. Instead of creating a dedicated line between you and the other side (telephone or computer) as happens with a circuit switching, packet switching opens a brief connection, just long enough to send a small chunk of data called a packet from one system to another.
The process happens like this: the computer (or telephone) sending the message separates the data into small packets each carrying an address letting all network devices know where to send them. Inside of each packet is a payload. The packet payload could be any bit of digitized data such as a piece of an e-mail, a music file, a photo or part your phone call.
The computer or telephone then sends the packet to a router and goes about creating the next packet. The router that received the packet is at the same time getting thousands of other packets of data from thousands of different sources. In an instant, that router determines which direction to send your packet to and which route is best to send it on. In turn, the next router does the same thing sending the packet along until then it arrives at the receiving station.
When the receiving station gets the individual packets that could have all taken completely different paths across the network, it uses detailed instructions within the packets to reassemble the data into its original state. Packet switching is very efficient because allows the network to route packets along the least congested and cheapest lines.
The third generation of telecommunications uses high-speed data transfer and radio terminal technology to offer mobile multimedia, Internet mobility; and new technologies based on global standards.
800
Service that allows callers to place toll-free calls. Now includes 888, 877 and 866.
800 Number Monthly Fee
a fixed monthly fee to have a personal 800 number.
911 Emergency Service Fee
funds 911 emergency telecom services, including automatic number and location identification.
Access
charges made by a local phone company for using its local lines and facilities carry long distance calls to and from long distance providers.
Analog
one of two forms of representing information electronically. Analog uses variable and continuous waveforms to represent information. Receiving equipment estimates an approximation of the encoded values.
Area Code
the three-digit service access number representing a "toll" center in the US, Canada and the Caribbean.
Bandwidth
speed at which information can be sent or received over a network. The more bandwidth, the faster information can be sent or received. Usually measured in bits per second (bps).
Basic Local Exchange Service
local phone service for residential or business use including analog or digital transmission of voice, data, video or information including tone dialing, operator services, directory listings, access to 911, the ability to report service problems seven days a week and Lifeline and TelAssistance services.
Baud
the speed of a modem, measured roughly in bits per second (bps).
Best Effort
CamTel does not warrant or guarantee that its service is error-free or that its operation will be secure or uninterrupted. Further, no specific speed is guaranteed, though CamTel will use it best effort to provide advertised speeds. CamTel hereby disclaims any and all liability on account thereof.
the address where your phone bill will be sent. It can be the same or different from your actual service address.
Bit
the smallest unit of measure in a computer represented by a 0 or 1. Think of a bit as a switch. If it is in the on position, it is a 1, if the switch is off, it is a 0. All parts of a computer communicate in bits. Eight bits of information is a byte. See Bytes.
Bits per second (bps)
a measure of how fast some device communicates in thousands of bits per second (Kbps) or millions of bits per second (Mbps). See Bytes.
Booting
starting up a computer via the power switch, which loads the system software into memory. Restarting the computer via a keystroke combination is called rebooting or a warm boot.
Broadband
high-speed bandwidth networks such as cable and Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) for Internet access.
Browser
software such as Netscape, Microsoft Internet Explorer designed to display pages from the World Wide Web on a personal computer.
Byte
is 8 bits of information as 1s and 0s. One byte of information is "01100101".
Bytes per second (Bps)
this is generally a measure of how fast a device communicates, usually in thousands of bytes per second (KBps) or millions of bytes per second (MBps). If you have got a capital B, you are talking Bytes, which is equal to 8 bits. See "bits".
Carrier
telecom company authorized by regulatory agencies to provide communications services to the public.
CO--Central Office
the phone company's central switching station for a given area.
Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC)
a company that competes with established local telephone businesses by providing its own network and switching.
CTC
Cameron Telephone Company
Custom calling features
value-added products such as call waiting, three-way calling, call forwarding, etc., offered to customers without special equipment.
Dedicated line
phone line between two computers that is used only for data transfer.
Digital
use of binary code "1" and "0" to represent information using electrical or electromagnetic signals in a serial stream of pulses that can be modulated to convey specific content. Digital transmission is sharper, clearer and faster than analog.
Distance Education or Distance Learning
telecom and video technology to provide instruction when students and instructors are separated by long distances.
Distinctive Ringing
different patterns of ringing that allow a user to identify the source of the call or who the call is for.
Do Not Call Program
legal requirement to remove from calling lists, the phone numbers of people who have asked to not receive unsolicited phone calls.
DSL (Digital Subscriber Line)
technology that increases bandwidth of ordinary analog home and office phone lines, sending digital voice and data over regular twisted-pair copper phone lines for high-speed Internet connections. DSL is a dedicated line and a fast connection, with speeds up to about 3.2 Mbps to download and up to 1 Mbps to upload. Equipment must be installed at the Phone Company's office and at the user's home or office and the user generally must be located within 3.5 miles of a phone company switching office to have DSL installed.
E-Commerce
electronic selling of goods and services over the Internet.
E-mail
electronic messages sent over the Internet.
Estimated monthly bill
what you can expect to pay per month with a new calling plan on your calling habits.
ETC
Elizabeth Telephone Company.
Ethernet
a standard for connecting computers to a LAN. It transmits at about 10,000,000 bits per second (bps).
Extension
additional phone that lets two or more locations use the same line.
FCC Access Charge
a charge, created by the FCC, to compensate local telephone companies for a portion of the cost of providing local lines for interstate long distance.
FCC (Federal Communications Commission)
federal agency, established by the Communications Act of 1934, responsible to Congress and charged with regulating interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable.
Federal Excise Tax
a federal tax on all billed local and long distance services.
Federal Universal Service Charge (FUSC)
a charge assessed to all telecom companies with interstate operations including long distance, wireless, pager and payphone services.
FetchMail
FetchMail is an automated functionality that will retrieve email from one account, and deposit it into another.
It is most often used when changing ISPs, to periodically retrieve email from your old ISP email account and have it deposited into your new ISP email account ... in this case, your new camtel.net email account.
NOTE: If you do not wish to pull any email from another (other than your camtel.net account), then you should probably not being using this unless instructed to by CamTel Support Personnel.
Active: Use this to turn this functionality on and off.
Email Server: This is where you specify the name of the email server to retrieve email from. You can usually get this information from your old email reader. It's usually in the form mail.oldinternetprovider.net or post.oldinternetprovider.net, but possibly pop.oldinternetprovider.net, imap.oldinternetprovider.net.
Email Account: This is the name of the email account you are retrieving from. This can also usually be found in the setup of your old email reader.
Email Password: This is the password of the email account you are retrieving email from.
Purge after retrieval: If you turn this on, it will remove the email from your old email account after it has read it. BE CAREFUL WITH THIS! If you turn this on, the email in your old account will be removed after fetchmail retrieves it. YOU CANNOT GET IT BACK. So, if you are unsure about this, LEAVE IT OFF.
Track senders: Turning this on will generate a tracking record for any sender that sent email to your old account. You will then be given the opportunity to either notify them, or delete them (won't show up again), or ignore them for now. If you elect notify, Each sender will only be notified once.
Please Note:
This FetchMail functionality can only retrieve email from an account that is active. In other words, you must keep your old email account (the one you specify to retrieve email from) active until you are comfortable that all the people you wish to know you have a new email address, know.
This FetchMail functionality can optionally remove the email from your old ISP after it deposits a copy of it into your CamTel email account. (Purge after retrieval)
This FetchMail functionality can optionally send 'change-of-email-address' notifications to the senders of emails that it retrieves. It keeps track of what senders have been notified, and only sends each sending email address one notification email, much like a vacation message. (Track senders).
Username and password authentication are not checked upon setup. They are, however, checked when the recurring background process tries to retrieve email from the 'fetched' account. If the 'fetched' email account does not exist, an email will be generated to you informing of this and what actions were taken.
Fiber Optics
modulated lightwave signals, generated by a laser or LED, transmitted along glass, fused silica or plastic fiber. Fiber optics has a higher capacity than wire cables, creating more bandwidth.
Firewall
hardware or software that protects computer information and resources from unauthorized outside users.
Forwarding
a phone system or service that redirects incoming calls to another extension or remote location.
Gigabit
one billion bits. A gigabit is commonly used for measuring the amount of data that is transferred in one second between two telecommunication points.
Gigabyte--Gb
is a measure of computer data storage capacity and is roughly a billion bytes or 1,073,741,824 bytes.
HTML - Hypertext Mark-up Language
language used to format pages for the World Wide Web. It uses code called "tags" to format text, place images and make hyperlinks.
HTTP - Hypertext Transfer Protocol
protocol used for transferring hypertext pages across the World Wide Web. Web addresses begin with the prefix "http://".
Hyperlink
text or image highlighted with a color and/or underlined that will take you to another webpage.
Hypertext
text document that contains hyperlinks. Hypertext is the foundation of the World Wide Web.
Inside Wire Maintenance
insurance that covers the lines that run from the gray protector box outside a residence or business to the wall outlets inside.
Inside Wiring
telecom lines that run from the gray protector box outside a residence or business to the wall outlets inside a customer's buildings.
Internet
with a lowercase "i", as in "internet", it is one or more computer networks joined together. With a capital "I" it is the proper name of "The Internet", also known as "the Net", "cyberspace", or "the information superhighway".
IP - Internet Protocol
allows computers to find each other. An IP address is a unique 32-bit series of four numbers separated by dots that identifies a computer on a network.
ISDN - Integrated Services Digital Network
a high bandwidth network that can transfer simultaneous voice and data transmissions over a single digital telephone line, operating at speeds from 57.6 K to 128 K.
ISP--Internet Service Provider
a company that provides Internet access.
Kbps - Kilobits per second
(1,024 bits per second) a standard measure of bandwidth, the data rate and transmission capacity over a network line.
KBps--Kilobytes per second
capacity in thousands of bytes per second. A Kilobyte (KBps) of memory = 1,024 bytes. A byte is eight binary digits (bits).
LA Access Charge
LA Access Charge
Landline
traditional wired phone service.
LATA--Local Access and Transport Area
the United States is divided into LATAs
Lifeline
a program which lets qualified subscribers have their monthly Subscriber Line Charge (SLC) reduced.
Local Exchange Carrier (LEC)
company that provides telephone service or access.
Local loop
The copper wires running between the telephone subscriber's home or business and the telephone company's central office switch or remote equipment.
Local Service Area
the geographic calling area in which you do not incur toll charges.
Local Toll Calls
calls in your same area code, but require you to dial a "1" before dialing the 7-digit phone number.
LOC--Local Number Portability Charge
lets residential and business customers retain their existing phone numbers if they switch local phone service providers.
Long Distance Call
a call made between two different local area telephone areas (LATA). LATAs were originally area codes, but some LATAs now contain two or more area codes to maintain local calling rates when new area codes are implemented
LOS--Local Optional Service
reduced tolls for calls within your IntraLATA.
Megabit (Mbit or Mbps
Megabits per second
Megabyte-MBps
1,048,576 bytes. a measure of how fast a device communicates.
Modem
a MOdulator/DEModulator. a device that can encode digital signals from a computer into analog signals that can be transmitted over analog lines, and vice versa.
MRC (Monthly Recurring Cost)
fixed costs for service that recur on a monthly basis and do not depend upon usage or volume.
Non-listed
A non-listed telephone number is one that will not be published in the telephone directory but will be given out by directory assistance.
Non-published
A non-published telephone numbr is one that will not be published in the telephone directory and will not be given out by directory assitance.
Originating Calls
calls that are placed from your line to another number.
PICC Primary InterExchange Carrier Change
the FCC-mandated flat-rate charge that appears on the bill sent to you from your long distance carrier.
PIC Freeze--Pre-subscribed InterExchange Carrier
A PIC Freeze is in place when a consumer makes arrangements with their telephone company to prevent changing the user's long distance provider without permission. This prevents "slamming".
PIC--Primary InterExchange Carrier
the PIC is the long distance carrier used for "1+dialing" for your interstate long distance calls.
PIN--Personal Identification Number
security code used with phone number.
POP--Point of Presence
local phone service dial-in point for an Internet Service Provider (ISP).
POP--Post Office Protocol
used by ISPs to manage e-mail accounts. A "POP account" is just another name for a dial-up e-mail account.
POTS--Plain Old Telephone Service
the acronym often used for analog basic service telephone connections as used in a residence
Pre-Paid Phone Card
a card purchased for a predetermined number of minutes for long distance calling.
Pre-Paid Phone Service
basic local phone service purchased for only local, toll-free and 911 calls.
Private Network
a network made up of circuits for the exclusive use of an organization or group of affiliated organizations.
Public Service Commission (PSC)
the state agency that regulated intrastate telecommunications. Also known as Public Utility Commission.
Router
the device that connects two networks and sends data packets between them
Server
a computer that acts as a repository of data and programs and is accessed by clients. This relationship is called "client/server".
SSL--Secure Sockets Layer
a protocol that uses public key encryption to send secure data directly from a browser to a server. URLs that use an SSL connection begin with an "https".
State Franchise Taxes or Fees
tax accessed to companies doing business in Texas.
State/Local Sales Tax
taxes levied on purchases of goods and services, including telecommunications.
Subscriber Line Charge
fixed monthly fee assessed by the phone company on each line, paid directly by the subscriber to defray fixed costs of providing local access.
Switch
device that routes a call by selecting the paths or circuits used for transmitting information and establishing a connection.
T-1
a digital high-speed line capable of delivering 1.54 Mbps (1,540K) in both directions, and divided into 24 data-bearing channels. T-1 circuits offer the equivalent of twenty-four (24) analog voice trunks.
Tariff
documents filed by a telco describing services and fees. Interstate tariffs are filed with the FCC and intrastate services are filed with state public utility commissions.
TDD
Telecommunications Device for the Deaf
Telco
a telephone company.
Telecommunications
transmission of information by means of electromagnetic or lightwave medium.
Telecommunications Act of 1996
public law reforming of the 1934 Communications Act to foster competition among local and long distance telephone, communications and cable companies.
Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund
TIF
Telecommunications Relay Service
TRS
Telephony
the science of transmitting voice over a telecommunications network.
Texas Gross Utility Fund
tax collected to appropriate funds to the Public Utility Commission.
Texas Universal Service Fund
TUSF
Toll
calls outside a local service calling area that incur charges. Toll calls are intrastate or interstate calls, but the interstate toll calls are often referred to as long distance calls.
Trunk
telephone circuit linking two switching systems, also called a Line, Exchange Line or Circuit.. A Trunk Group is a collection of trunks used for a common purpose.
TTY
text telephone allows people with hearing or speech disabilities to communicate over the phone using a keyboard and a viewing screen. It is sometimes called a TDD.
Universal Service
the concept included in the Communications Act of 1934, that both urban and rural subscribers are entitled to quality telephone service at reasonable rates.
Universal Service Fund
USF
Universal Service Fund Charge
FCC-mandated charge from your long distance carrier to provide support for Internet access for schools, libraries and healthcare facilities.
URL - Uniform Resource Locator
the unique address of every server or resource on the World Wide Web.
Videoconferencing
to communicate with others using video and audio software and hardware.
Virus
A piece of code that infects programs in a victim's computer.
Voice Mail
lets you receive, store, edit and forward messages over your phone system.
Web Browser
software such as Netscape, Microsoft Internet Explorer designed to display pages from the World Wide Web on a personal computer.
World Wide Web
A client-server network on the Internet that distributes information in a graphically rich manner using
