Glossary
Network Technician Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential network technician terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key network technician vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in network technician training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Access point
- A device providing Wi-Fi.
- Cat6
- A common network cable category.
- DHCP
- Automatically assigns IP addresses.
- DNS
- Translates names into IP addresses.
- Firewall
- Controls network traffic for security.
- IP address
- A numerical address for a device on a network.
- Latency
- Delay in network communication.
- NOC
- Network operations center.
- Packet loss
- Data that doesn’t reach its destination.
- Patch panel
- A panel where cables connect.
- Ping
- A tool that tests connectivity.
- Router
- Connects different networks.
- Subnet
- A segment of a network.
- Switch
- Connects devices in a network.
- VLAN
- A virtual network segment.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Network Technician practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Network Technician training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.