(Cable) Vault: Behavior: Houses telephone or cable televisions splices. Habitat: In cities where service is provided underground. How it works: Cable vault covers can be hinged or merely set in a collar set in the pavement. Workers can pry open the vault to make readings or adjustments. Unique characteristics: They're dangerous places to be. Harmful gases accumulate there, so don't pry up the id and climb in. [ref: A Field Guide to Roadside Technology, Edwin J. C. Sobey, 2006, pg. 80]
(VCR) Video Cassette Recorder: A recording and playback machine that takes signals from a television camera via a television receiver and records them on magnetic tapes.
Video On Demand: The ability to provide television programming to customers upon request (see also NEAR VIDEO ON DEMAND).
(VOD) Voice Operated Device: A device that is operated by a system with speech recognition.
(VPI/VCI) Virtual Path Identifier Virtual Channel Identifier: The combination of the address of a virtual circuit and of a virtual path, thereby identifying a connection on an ATM network.
(VPN) Virtual Private Network: A private switched network that allows sites that are connected with one another to contact each other without dialing all eleven digits.
(VRU) Voice Response Unit: A device that is capable to form a spoken message from an assortment of stored words.
(VSAT) Very Small Aperture Terminal: A small earth station for satellite transmission and which is made up of one master earth station and several two-way satellite terminals. Commonly used by multinational firms in the transmission of fax, voice, and data throughout a widespread area.