Engineering:Terminal (telecommunication)

Short description: Device which ends a telecommunications link

Network terminal nodes are at the edges of the network

In the context of telecommunications, a terminal is a device which ends a telecommunications link and is the point at which a signal enters or leaves a network. Examples of terminal equipment include telephones, fax machines, computer terminals, printers and workstations.

An end instrument is a piece of equipment connected to the wires at the end of a telecommunications link. In telephony, this is usually a telephone connected to a local loop. End instruments that relate to data terminal equipment include printers, computers, barcode readers, automated teller machines (ATMs) and the console ports of routers.

See also

• Communication endpoint
• Data terminal equipment
• End system
• Host (network)
• Node (networking)

• Terminal equipment

External links

• Directive 1999/5/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 March 1999 on radio equipment and telecommunications terminal equipment and the mutual recognition of their conformity (R&TTE Directive).