Editing Data terminal equipment (section)

{{Short description|Communications system equipment}}
{{More citations needed|date=July 2013}}
{{Use American English|date = March 2019}}

[[Image:DEC VT100 terminal.jpg|thumb|The [[Digital Equipment Corporation|DEC]] [[VT100]], a widely emulated computer terminal]]
[[File:RS-232 POTS DTE DCE.svg|thumb|DCE and DTE network.]]

'''Data terminal equipment''' ('''DTE''') is an end instrument that converts [[user information]] into signals or reconverts received signals. It is also called '''data processing terminal equipment'''<ref name="DIN_44302"/> or '''tail circuit'''.{{citation needed|date=May 2023}} A DTE device communicates with the [[data circuit-terminating equipment]] (DCE), such as a [[modem]]. The DTE/DCE classification was introduced by [[IBM]].

A DTE is the [[functional unit]] of a data station (''station'', ''terminal'')<ref name="DIN_44302"/> that serves as a data source or a data [[Sink (computing)|sink]] and provides for the [[data communication]] control function to be performed in accordance with the [[link protocol]].

Usually, the DTE device is the [[computer terminal|terminal]] (or a [[computer]] emulating a terminal), and the DCE is a modem or another carrier-owned device. The data terminal equipment may be a single piece of equipment or an interconnected subsystem of multiple pieces of equipment that perform all the required functions necessary to permit users to communicate. A user interacts with the DTE (e.g. through a [[human-machine interface]]), or the DTE may be the user.