Click on an index letter to navigate through our glossary terms:
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FAX (FACSIMILE)
Equipment that will transmit and receive both typed and picture data over a phone line and produce hard copy output -
FCC (FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION)
The federal government agency responsible for regulating interstate telecommunications, including radio and television broadcasting -
FIREWIRE
Apple Computer's name for a high-speed serial bus standard known as IEEE 1394. This standard allows for up to 63 devices to be connected to a single socket on a computer and defines how high-speed serial communications can take place between these devices. -
FIXED NIGHT ANSWER
A PBX feature that when programmed allows a incoming call to be automatically routed to a specific station when the system is placed in the night answer mode. -
FLEXIBLE NIGHT ANSWER
A PBX feature that allows the attendant to select a night service of a particular trunk to a specific station. The feature can also have calls routed to a night bell and allow answering from all or specific predetermined stations -
FLOPPY DISK (DISKETTE)
A flexible magnetic disk, enclosed in a plastic jacket, used by computers to store information. They come in a 3.5" size and an older 5 1/4" size which is now almost obsolete. While the 3.5" diskettes are encased in a hard plastic case, they are still considered "floppy" disks because the magnetic medium inside is flexible. -
FLOPPY DISK DRIVE
The device on a computer into which floppy diskettes are inserted. -
FOREIGN EXCHANGE (FX)
A circuit or trunk (commonly known as an FX LINE) that is from a central office other than the one that serves the customer's geographic area. After paying a monthly fee for the line based on the distance to that foreign CO, calls that are placed on that line are billed as if they were made locally from the foreign CO. Useful for businesses that have a lot of local calling in an area remote from their home location. -
FREQUENCY
The rate of repetitive recurrence of the electrical signal. Also called cycles per second -
FREQUENCY-DIVISION MULTIPLEXING
Sending more than one data stream over a single communications path by dividing the available BANDWIDTH (see also) of the circuit into narrower bands and sending each data stream through one of these narrower frequency bands