Frequently Asked Questions

Have a question about networking, telecommunications, broadband, Wireshark, or technology in general? You’ve come to the right place. Our Frequently Asked Questions section provides answers to many of the most common questions we receive about CellStream’s consulting services, technical training programs, online courses, and industry expertise.

In addition to information about our products and services, you’ll find helpful explanations, technical guidance, and answers to a variety of networking and computing topics. If you don’t find what you’re looking for, we’re always happy to help—simply contact us and we’ll do our best to provide the information you need.

We hope you find these resources informative, practical, and valuable in your professional and technical journey.

The Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) Calculation

Post Views: 18,225 Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) is a measure of how strong a signal is compared to the background noise in a communication system. It is typically expressed in decibels (dB). The higher the SNR, the clearer and more reliable the signal. I often get asked, how is signal to noise calculated. Frankly the math

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What are some examples of Physical Layer Threats in Networking?

Post Views: 5,544 A great question in my two day Security class recently. The physical layer (Layer 1) of the layered model is responsible for the transmission of raw data bits over a communication medium. Although it is often considered more secure due to its reliance on physical components, it is still vulnerable to a

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What was the nature of the July 2024 CrowdStrike computer outages?

Post Views: 2,270 I am getting asked a lot about this. Below is mix of reporting and my take on what happened and what needs to be done. Just so we are clear: I have no secret inside knowledge or insight into the problems. But if you are looking for a clear explanation, read on.

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Why are NAT/NPAT not a security function?

Post Views: 4,068 Network Address Translation (NAT) and Network Port Address Translation (NPAT) are not considered a security function because its primary purpose is to modify the L3 network address information in IPv4 packet headers and L4 port numbers of TCP or UDP while in transit. NAT and NPAT are not needed in IPv6 networking.

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A Simple Capture and Filter Exercise for Wireshark

Post Views: 3,896 Are you new to Wireshark? Someone asked the following “getting started” question on the Wireshark Discord site, and it prompted me to write this FAQ to help newcomers to Wireshark understand how to navigate the initial complexity of packet capture. Hi everyone! I’m new here and just downloaded wireshark for a Computer

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What ever happened to ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode)?

Post Views: 8,404 Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) was once seen as a promising Layer 2 networking technology due to its ability to handle a variety of traffic types (voice, video, and data) with high efficiency and quality of service (QoS) performance guarantees. I spent several years working with and then teaching ATM courses to my

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Where can I get PCAP Packet Captures for Learning and Exploration?

Post Views: 4,183 I am often asked this question of where to access PCAP or PCAP-NG files so that folks can explore packet captures using Wireshark.  I have always provided these resources in my Wireshark classes at the Online School, but thought I should also just list them here for public consumption. Look up the

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How do I install / upgrade Wireshark in Ubuntu Linux?

Post Views: 3,699 How do I install / upgrade Wireshark in Ubuntu Linux?  First things first – the Wireshark downloads page is here: https://www.wireshark.org/download.html I know I have put the answer to this in other articles over the years (like this one), but I think it is appropriate to answer the question directly and specifically.

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How do I get Windows interfaces to show up in Wireshark?

Post Views: 1,716 Check out these great references as well:   Our custom profiles repository for Wireshark  Our Udemy course on Wireshark   Our Udemy course on Wireless Packet capture Apparently this is a common problem, where on Windows systems you do not see any interfaces: There are a couple of things to try: 1. If you

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If I want to get into Networking, what should I learn?

Post Views: 1,949 I was recently (this was 2017) asked the question “If I want to get into Networking, what should I learn?” If you want to see the 2025 answer – click here. A great question because Telecommunications or Data Networking is really not a degree program at most universities, at least not at

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