Access point
Abbreviated AP and in everyday contexts refers to the network equipment that offers WIFI. Most routers today have an integrated access point (AP) that covers most people's needs, but in larger premises or stone/concrete structures you may need to set up one or more additional APs to get sufficient WIFI coverage. The access point is connected with a network cable to a switch or router. You can see the access point as one end of a wireless connection which is one end of a wireless network cable. You can use this if you want to connect mobile devices in a large room.
Bluetooth
Short-range wireless standard operating in the 2.4 GHz band. Bluetooth can be used to transmit both data and audio. A standard that exists in different iterations with many different uses, which means that Bluetooth can be found in everything from sensors to headsets, in your case it may be a printer for the kitchen or for receipts.
Cat 6 etc.
"Cat" stands for Category, and is a standard for network cables (Ethernet) with RJ45 connectors. There are different rules for whether a cable can be called Cat 5, Cat 6, etc. including the speed and amount of data the cable should be able to handle, and whether the cable should be shielded against interference. The higher the Cat, the stricter the standard. We recommend network cables of at least the Cat 6 standard for a more stable connection.
IP address
All computers connected to the Internet communicate with each other by calling each other's unique IP addresses, which can be compared to, for example, a residential address with street and number. The IP address has the form xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx where xxx is a number that can vary between 001 and 255. This gives just over 4 billion unique IP addresses, which may seem like a lot but is actually running out! In anticipation of a new IP standard (IPv6, which allows about 50 billion billion billion different addresses), you have to economize a little with the IPv4 addresses used now.
DHCP, dynamic and static IP addresses
DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol and is the process by which a router assigns IP addresses to devices. Computers and other clients on a local network can have either dynamic IP addresses or static IP addresses. The former is most common. In this case, clients are assigned new IP addresses by the router every time they connect. However, they are often assigned the same IP address because the router can recognize them by their Mac addresses. Dynamic IP address can cause problems when connecting a terminal to the cash register, as the terminal can get a different IP address if your network goes down or you suffer a power outage.
We ask for a static IP address for card terminals, because you enter the address where the card terminal is located in our cash register. With a static IP address, the card terminal always has the same IP address every time it connects to the router. This avoids having to reconnect the terminal to the cash register, which can happen if it has a dynamic IP address.
Mbit/s
Megabits per second. Mbit/s stands for million data bits per second or one megabit of data per second. A measure of bandwidth (the total data flow per unit of time) in a communication network.
Router
A router is a device that connects two or more networks to each other via, for example, an IP connection. One such example is a local area network in an office that connects to the internet. A router connects multiple networks and routes network traffic between them.
Routers come with network ports, RJ45 or fiber ports, as it is implied that they should be connected to networks. The router analyzes incoming data packets, and decides where to send the packet, and it chooses the route to send the data. A router should have a firewall where the purpose of the firewall is to screen out potential attacks or threats to devices on the local network and exclude unauthorized users.
Businesses with higher security standards such as municipalities may need to open ports to let traffic through to cash registers and card terminals.
Switch
Switch works simply as a "junction box" for the network, if you need more "network sockets" you connect another "network branch connector" to your network. Switches are used to connect several network devices with each other, such as your cash register, card terminal, kitchen printer, access points, etc. Connecting a device to a switch means connecting a network cable between the device and the switch, which allows them to exchange information with each other.
WAN and LAN
WAN means Wide Area Network, which is another term for the internet itself.
LAN means Local Area Network, this is the local network, which in practice becomes the private network in the connected property/business. It is the network that occurs on "your side" of the router (WAN is then on the "outside" of the router).
The router in the picture has five physical network ports: four network ports for computers or other devices on the local network and one network port that connects the local network to the internet.
The router has four LAN ports and one WAN port. Source K&C
WLAN
Wireless Local Area Network. This is nothing more than a wireless LAN, or more simply put; a WIFI network. (not to be confused with VLAN.) Today it is common for your LAN to be a combination of both wired and WIFI, and some may even have WIFI only for convenience.
If the router's WLAN is not enough, we recommend one or more additional access points in the room.
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi is the name of a widely used and popular wireless networking technology. Although early standards also included transmission wirelessly via light, today Wi-Fi uses radio waves to provide a high-speed connection via a wireless network, to the internet or to a local network. Wi-Fi is a trademark phrase meaning IEEE 802.11x and is commonly written as wifi. Currently, the frequencies 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz are mainly used for Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi devices can either be provided integrated in a device or as a separate access point, router, bridge or repeater.
The 2,4 GHz band, the older and most common Wi-Fi standard, is also used by many other standards, such as Bluetooth, meaning it is not always a stable connection because of noise. We recommend that you connect your mobile devices via the 5 GHz band where it is possible, and a router that is capable of using the 5 GHz band.
3G
Third generation cellular technology, 3G, was originally developed with more of a data focus and offers significantly improved data transmission speeds compared to GSM. 3G has a separate voice channel, a separate data channel and a separate channel for SMS. 3G originally used the UMTS method but was later improved with higher data speeds through the introduction of the HSPA protocol. 3G is used in Sweden on the 900/2100 MHz frequency bands and is likely to be the first technology that operators will switch off in the future.
4G
Fourth generation mobile network and the one being deployed today. Means higher data transfer speeds and communicates via a number of different frequency bands, 700/800/900/1800 and 2600 are the bands used today. Can be used for both data and voice, but voice does not go via a separate voice channel as in 3G and GSM, but only as VoLTE.
5G
Fifth generation mobile system launched widely in 2020, a successor to the 4G network. Theoretical maximum speeds are expected to reach 10 Gbit/s, but more realistically a few hundred Mbit/s. 5G is expected to be used for many low-speed connections where connected things (IoT) come together. We will see faster and more advanced mobile broadband. We will also see remote control via mobile networks, vehicles and remote-controlled robots with high speeds, high security and low latency.