Terminal (telecommunication)


In the context of telecommunications, a terminal is a device which ends a telecommunications link and is the point at which a signal enters and/or leaves a network. Examples of equipment containing network terminations are telephones, fax machines, computer terminals and network devices, 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 by a local loop. End instruments that relate to data terminal equipment include printers, computers, barcode readers, automated teller machines and the console ports of routers.