The telecommunications industry is the largest

industry in the world.

The Public Telephone Network (PTN) uses the
largest computer network in the world to
interconnect millions of subscribers in such a
way that the myriad of companies function as a
single entity.
The PTN accommodates two types of
subscribers: public and private.
Subscribers to the private sector are customers
who lease equipment, transmission media
(facilities), and services from telephone
companies on a permanent basis.
The leased circuits are designed and configured
for their use only and are often referred to a
private-line circuits or dedicated circuits.
For example, large banks do not wish to share
their communications network with other users,
but it is not cost effective for them to construct
their own networks.
Subscribers to the public sector of the PTN
share equipment and facilities that are available
to all public subscribers to the network. This
equipment is appropriately called common usage
equipment, which includes transmission facilities
and telephone switches.
Anyone with a telephone number is a
subscriber to the public sector of the PTN.
Since subscribers to the public network are
interconnected only temporarily through
switches, the network is often appropriately
called the public switched telephone network
(PSTN) and sometime simply dial-up network.
Telephone network equipment can be broadly
divided into four primary classifications:
instruments
local loops
trunk circuits, and
exchanges.
Instrument is any device used to originate and
terminate calls and to transmit and receive
signals into and out of the telephone network,
such as a 2500-type telephone set, a cordless
telephone, or a data modem.
Local loop is simply the dedicated cable facility
used to connect an instrument at a subscriber’s
station to the closest telephone office.
Local loops connected to PSTN are two-wire
metallic cable pair.
However, local loops used with private-line
data circuits are generally four-wire
configurations.

A trunk circuit is similar to a local loop except
trunk circuits are use to interconnect two
telephone offices.

The primary difference between a local loop
and a trunk circuit is that a local loop is
permanently associated to a particular station,
whereas trunk is a common usage connection.

An exchange is a central location where
subscribers are interconnected, either
temporarily or on a permanent basis.

Telephone company switching machines are
located in exchanges.

Switching machines are programmable
matrices that provide temporary paths between
two subscribers.

Exchanges connected directly to local loops are
often called local exchanges or sometimes dial
switches or local dial switches.

A central exchange is also called a
central telephone exchange, central
office (CO), central wire center,
central exchange, central office
exchange, or simply central.

To process a call, a switch must
provide three primary functions:
 Identify the subscribers
 Set up or establish a
communications path
 Supervise the calling processes

Central Office is a switch in a telephone system
that connects to local subscriber lines

Central offices are now built underground to
connect to the underground cables and to
contain the electromagnetic radiation thrown
off by the plant.

An automated switching system is a system of
sensors, switches, and other electrical and
electronic devices that allows subscribers to
give instructions directly to the switch without
having to go through an operator.

In addition, automated switches performed
interconnections between subscribers without
the assistance of a human and without using
patchchords.

The first automatic telephone switch was the
Strowger step-by-step switch
Strowger’s
Switch

The crossbar switch superseded the Strowger
switch

The crosspoint switch allows the connection of
any incoming line to any outgoing line
Crossbar
Switch
Main Distribution Frame (MDF or Main Frame) is
a signal distribution frame for connecting
equipment (inside plant) to cables and subscriber
carrier equipment (outside plant). The MDF is a
termination point within the local Telephone
exchange where exchange equipment and
terminations of local loops are connected by jumper
wires at the MDF.

Intraoffice calls are calls completed within a
single local exchange.

Interoffice calls are calls placed between two
stations that are connected to different local
exchanges.

Trunk or trunk line interconnects two local
exchange offices. Also called interoffice trunks.
•The figure on the right
shows, three exchange
offices with two
subscribers connected
to each.
• Also, interoffice call
between subscribers
serviced by two
different exchanges is
shown.

In larger metropolitan areas, it is virtually
impossible to provide interoffice trunk circuits
between all the local exchange offices.

To interconnect local offices that do not have
interoffice trunks directly between them,
tandem offices are used.

A tandem office is an exchange without any local
loop connected to it.

The only facilities connected to the switching
machine in a tandem are trunks.

A tandem switch is called a switcher’s switch, and
trunk circuits that terminate in tandem switches
are appropriately called tandem trunks or
sometime intermediate trunks.

The figure below shows two exchange areas
that can be interconnected with a tandem
switch or through an interoffice trunk circuit.

Note that tandem trunks are used to connect
the Bronx and Uptown exchanges to the
tandem switch.
•The figure on the
right also shows how
a subscriber in
Uptown exchange
area is connected to a
subscriber in Bronx
exchange area
through a tandem
switch.

Very often, local offices have the capabilities to
be interconnected with direct interoffice trunks
as well as through a tandem office.

When a telephone call is made from one local
office to another, an interoffice trunk is selected
if one is available.

If not, a route through a tandem office is second
choice.

Interstate long-distance telephone calls require
a special telephone office called a toll office.

When a subscriber initiates a long distance call,
the local exchange connects the caller to a toll
office through a facility called a toll-connecting
trunk (sometimes called an interoffice toll trunk).

Figure below shows how local exchanges are
connected to toll offices and how toll offices are
connected to other toll offices.
Relationship between local exchange
offices and toll offices

The figure below show the relationship between
local exchange offices, tandem offices, toll
offices, and their respective trunk circuits.

The NANP was established to provide a
telephone numbering system for the United
States, Mexico and Canada that would allow
any subscriber without the assistance of an
operator.

The network is often referred to as DDD (direct
distance dialing) network.

North America is now divided into numbering
plan areas (NPAs) with each NPA assigned a
unique 3-digit number called an area code.

Each NPA is further subdivided into smaller
service areas each with its own 3-digit number
called an exchange code (or prefix).

Each subscriber to a central office prefix is
assigned a four digit extension number.

X – is assigned from 0 to 9

N – 2 to 9

1/0 – a digit could be only 1 or 0

The 10-digit telephone number was expressed
as
 N(1/0)N – NNX – XXXX
Area code Prefix Extension

With this numbering scheme, there were a total

of (128)(640)(10,000) = 819,200,000 telephone
numbers possible in North America.

In 1995, North America ran out of NPA area
codes, so the requirement that the second digit
be a 1 or 0 was dropped.

The new numbering scheme is NXN-NNX-
XXXX.

This increased the number of area codes to 640
and the total number of telephones to
4,096,000,000.

The International Telecommunications Union
has adopted an international numbering plan
that adds a prefix in front of the area code.

For example to call London, England from the
United States, one must dial 011-44-491-222-
111.

The 011 indicates an international call, 44 is the
country code for England, 491 is the city code
for England, 222 is the prefix for Piccadilly, and
111 is the three-digit extension of the party you
wish to call.

Country Code: 63
International Call Prefix: 00

Telephone numbers in the Philippines follow
an open telephone numbering plan and an
open dial plan. Both plans are regulated by the
National Telecommunications Commission, a
body under the Department of Transportation
and Communications as an attached agency.

The Philippines is assigned an international
dialing code of 63 by ITU-T. Telephone
numbers are fixed at seven digits (six digits
was used until mid 1990s; four to five digits
were used in the countryside), with area codes
fixed at one, two or three digits. When making
long-distance calls in the Philippines, append 0
for domestic calls and 00 for international calls.

With the Advent of automated switching
centers, a hierarchy of switching exchanges
evolved in North America to accommodate the
rapid increase in demand for long-distance
calling.

Thus, telephone company switching plans
include a switching hierarchy that allows a
certain degree of route selection when
establishing a telephone call.

A route is simply a path between two
subscribers and is comprised of one or more
switches, two local loops, and possibly one or
more trunk circuits. The choice of routes is not
offered to subscribers.

The best route is not necessarily the shortest
route. The best route is most likely the route
requiring the fewest number of switches and
trunk circuits.

If a call cannot be completed because the
necessary trunk circuits or switching paths are
not available, the calling party receives an
equipment busy call. This is called blocking.

Based on statistics, the likelihood that a call be
blocked is approx. 1 in 100,000.

The probability of using the same facility on
identical calls is unlikely.

Before the divestiture of AT&T in 1984, the bell
system North American switching hierarchy
consisted of five ranks or classes of switching
centers. The highest –ranking office was the
regional center, and lowest was the end office.
1. Class 5 end office
 A class 5 office is a local exchange where subscriber
loops are terminated and received dial tone. End
offices interconnected subscriber loops to the other
subscriber loops to tandem trunks, interoffice
trunks, and toll connecting trunks. Subscribers
received unlimited local call service in return of a
payment for a fixed charge each month (flat rate).
2. Class 4 toll center
 There were two types of class 4 offices. The class 4C
toll centers provided human operators for both
outward and inward calling service. Class 4P offices
usually had only outward operator service perhaps
no operator service at all. Class 4 offices
concentrated traffic in one switching center to direct
outward traffic to the proper end office.
 Class 4 exchanges were tandem exchanges
connecting the various areas of a city or towns in a
region.
3. Class 3 primary center
 This office provided service to small groups of class
4 offices within a small area of a state. Class 3
provided no operator assistance; however, they
could serve the same switching functions as class 4
offices. A class 3 office generally had direct trunks
to either a sectional center or regional center.
 Class 3 exchanges were tandem exchanges
connecting major population centers within
particular region of the AT&T network.
4. Class 2 sectional center
 Sectional centers could provide service to
geographical regions varying in size from part of a
state to all several states, depending on population
density. No operator services were provided;
however, a class 2 office could serve the same
switching functions as class 3 and class 4 offices.
 Class 2 exchanges were tandem exchanges which
interconnected whole regions of the AT&T network.
5. Class 1 regional center

Regional centers were the highest-ranking office in the
direct distance dialing (DDD) network in terms of the
size of the geographical area served and trunking
options available. Class 1 offices provided no operator
services; however, they could serve the same switching
functions as class 2, class 3, or class 4 offices. Class 1
offices had direct trunk to all the other regional centers.

Class 1 exchanges were international gateways -
handing off and receiving traffic from outside the USA
and Canadian networks.

For the telephone layout shown below, the
simplest connection would be a call between
subscribers 1 and 2 in city A who are
connected to the same end office.

An interoffice call between stations 1 and 3 in
city A would require using two tandem trunk
circuits with an interconnection made in a
tandem office.
City A
End
Office 4

City C
End
#3 Office 1 Primary
Tandem Center
office

(3rd choice)
#1
End City D
Office 2 Toll
End center Primary
#2 Office 3 Center

(1st choice)

Interoffice trunks (2nd choice)

Tandem trunks
Toll End
Toll-connecting trunks
Center Office 5 #4
Intertoll trunks
Local loops City B

Consider a call originating from subscriber 3 in
city A intended for subscriber 4 in city B.

The route begins with subscriber 3 connected
to end office 1 through a local loop.

From end office, the route uses a toll-
connecting trunk to toll center in city A.

Between city A and city B, there are several
route choices available.

Because there is a high community of interest
between the two cities, there is a direct
intertoll trunk between City A and City B,
which would be the first choice.

However, there is an alternate route between
city A and city B through the primary center in
city C, which would probably be the second
choice.

From the primary center, there is a direct, high
usage intertoll trunk to both city A and city B
(possibly the third choice), or, as a last resort,
the toll centers in city A and city B could be
interconnected using the primary centers in
city C and city D (fourth choice).

Local-loop signals such as DTMF tones, dial
tones, busy signals, and ringback signals are
called in-channel signals because they use the
same channel as the voice, only at different
times

These signals are AC and in the same range as
voice signals and are also referred to as in-band
signals

DC signals and currents such as on/off-hook
signals are referred to as out-of-band because
DC is not part of the same frequency range as a
voice signal

Use of a separate signaling channel in a
telephone system, so that voice channels do not
have to carry signaling information.

Reduces fraud, since users have no access to
the control channels

Signaling System Seven (SS7) is a type of
common channel signaling

SS7 is a global standard for telecommuni-
cations defined by the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU)
Telecommunications Sector(ITU-T)

SS7 was developed as an alternate and much
improved means of transporting signaling
information through the public telephone
network.

The SS7 standard defines the procedures and
protocol necessary to exchange information
over the PSTN using a separate digital
signaling network to provide wireless (cellular)
and wireline telephone call set up.
1. Basic call setup, management and tear-down
procedures
2. Wireless services, such as personal communications
services, wireless roaming, and mobile subscriber
identification
3. Local number portability (LNP)
4. Toll-free (800/888) and toll (900) wire-line services
5. Enhanced call features, such as call forwarding, calling
party name/number display, and three-way calling
6. Efficient and secure worldwide telecommunications
service
1. Subscriber A goes off hook and touch tones
out the destination telephone number of
subscriber B.
2. The local telephone translates the tones to
binary digits.
3. The local telephone exchange compares the
digits to numbers stored in a routing table to
determine whether subscriber B resides in the
same local switch as subscriber A. If not, the
call must be transferred onto an outgoing
trunk circuits to another local exchange.
4. After the switch determines that subscriber B
is served by a different local exchange, an SS7
message is sent onto the SS7 network. The
purposes of the message are as follows:
i. To find out if destination number is idle.
ii. If the destination number is idle, the SS7
network makes sure a connection between
the two telephone numbers is also
available.
iii. The SS7 network instructs the destination
switch to ring subscriber B.
5. When subscriber B answers the telephone, the
switching path is completed.
6. When either subscriber A or B terminates the
call by hanging up, the SS7 network releases
the switching path, making the trunk circuits
and switching paths available to other
subscriber of the network.

Today, the North American telephone system
is divided into two distinct functional areas:
signaling and switching.

The signaling network for the system is SS7,
which is use to determine how subscriber’s
voice and data signals are routed through the
network.

The signaling part of the network establishes
and disconnects the circuits that actually carry
the subscriber’s information.

The switching network is the portion of the
telephone network that actually transports the
voice and data from one subscriber to another.

After the divestiture of AT&T, technological
advances allowed many of the functions
distributed among five classes of telephone
offices to be combined.

The postdivestiture telephone network can no
longer be described as a hierarchy of five
classes of offices.

Long distance access is now accomplished
through an access point called the point-of-
presence (POP).

Point-of-presence is a telecommunications term
that describes the legal boundaries for the
responsibility of maintaining the equipment
and transmission lines.

In essence, it is the demarcation point
separating two companies.

The telephone companies are called local exchange
carriers (LCEs), exchange carriers (ECs), operating
telephone companies (OTCs), and telephone operating
companies (TOCs).

Telephone calls made within a LATA are considered a
function of intra-LATA network.

Telephone companies further divided each LATA into
local market and a toll market.

If the destination telephone number is in a different
LATA than the originating telephone number, the
operating company must switch to an interexchange
carrier (IC, IEC, or IXC) selected by the calling party.

After the divestiture of AT&T, calling areas
were redefined and changed to Local Access
and Transport Areas (LATA) with each LATA
having its own three-level hierarchy.

Example of an interexchange call between
subscriber A in LATA A to subscriber in LATA
B is shown below.
 Inter-exchange carrier A
(IEX)
LATA A

Inter-exchange carrier B
(IEX)

Subscriber A

Subscriber B LATA A

DSL technology provides high-speed,
broadband network connections to homes and
small businesses.

DSL utilizes the same cabling used for normal
telephones, but it can offer higher data rates
through use of the digital modem technology.

DSL modems comprise the heart of this
technology and the lines themselves are
actually just plain telephone lines.

It's possible for DSL subscribers to share the
same line for their digital and analog traffic

play web + receive a call.

Speed
 DSL offers more than 100 times the
network performance of a traditional
analog modem.
 the precise speed of a connection depends
on the variety of xDSL deployed.
 DSL is a distance-sensitive technology.

DSL works on the unused (high) frequencies
of the telephone line.

DSL modems contain an internal signal
splitter that carries voice signals on the
usual low frequencies (from 0 up to 4kHz)
and data signals above that.

This splitter, consequently, allows
simultaneous access to the line by the
telephone and the computer.

Access
 DSL service remains "on" all of the time.
 People should be aware that long-lived
connections like DSL can have security issues

firewall.

Availability
 The technology used to implement DSL only
works over a limited physical distance. At
the maximum, DSL runs about 18,000 feet
(3.5 miles or 5.5 kilometers) from a telephone
exchange.

Availability (cont.)
 To be eligible for DSL service, the phone
line involved must be "qualified."
 the home or business must lie within the
distance limitations of DSL (18,000 feet).
 This phone line must also possess sufficient
electrical quality characteristics.

The actual network bandwidth a customer
will receive from DSL in the home depends
on the span of their telephone wiring.

The longer the line, the less bandwidth DSL
can support.

Likewise, its thickness (wire gauge) can
affect performance.
Cable length Bandwidth availability
(feet) (kbps)
18,000 1,544

16,000 2,048

12,000 6,312

9,000 8,448

The xDSL "family tree" includes two main
branches
 Symmetric DSL
services provide identical
data rates upstream and downstream.
 Asymmetric DSL
provides relatively lower
rates upstream but higher rates downstream.

ADSL lines use the
frequencies above
the voice range for
high-speed data
while leaving the
use of the local loop
for analog
telephony intact

Typical ADSL uses
include Internet
access and
interactive
television

Asymmetric digital subscriber lines (ADSL)
promise connections at speeds of up to 3 Mbps
in the direction from the CO to the user.

The upstream speed is limited to some much
smaller value which is where the asymmetric
part of the name comes from.
1. Which office class is the local central office?
a. 2
b. 3
c. 4
d. 5

2. The physical connection between the telephone set and the

switching equipment
a. trunk line
b. link
c. subscriber loop
d. leased line
3. What method is used to transmit more than one conversation over a
path?
a. hybrid
b. tandem
c. multiplexing
d. all of the above

4. The telephone switching is accomplished by the use of:

a. digital switches
b. step-by-step switches
c. crossbar switches
d. any of the above

5. The step-by-step switch:

a. was invented by Strowger
b. generates much noise
c. cannot operate directly from DTMF tones
d. any of the above
6. The other name of Class 2 office in the North American Switching Plan
a. Primary Center
b. Sectional Center
c. Regional Center
d. Toll points

7. The common channel interoffice signaling method:

a. uses the same channel for signaling as for the related conversation
b. use a separate channel for signaling only
c. carries the signaling for only one related conversation
d. is used on local loops

8. What is a trunk?
a. The base of a communications tower
b. A telephone line connecting two central offices
c. A line connecting one telephone set to a PABX
d. A line connecting of the central office to the telephone set
8. What is a four-wire circuit?
a. is used between central offices for long distance connections,
with one pair being used for each direction of transmission
b. is a circuit with three output terminals and one input
terminal
c. is an oscillator that produces four different frequencies
simultaneously
d. A circuit consisting of four transmission lines

9. Call blocking:
a. cannot occur in the public telephone network
b. occurs on the local loop when there is an electrical power failure
c. occurs only on long-distance cables
d. occurs when the central office capacity is exceeded
10. What is a two-wire circuit?
a. A circuit usually in the subscriber loop, between the
telephone set and the local central office
b. a circuit having only two terminals, both terminals having the
same instantaneous voltage
c. A circuit with one terminal, one output terminal, and a
common ground
d. A circuit consisting of two transmission lines

11. It uses packet switched data network which transmits all call
setup information on a packet-data network that is separate from
the voice channels used for telephone conversations.
a. In-band Signaling
b. Signaling System Seven
c. Out-of-band Signaling
d. DTMF Signaling
12. It is a tandem switch that is owned by a long distance carrier.
These switches are the entry points for connections into the
carrier’s long distance network.
a. Point of Presence
b. Flat Network
c. Local Access and Transport Area
d. None of these

13. Another term for Interexchange carrier

a. Long-distance telephone company
b. Inter-LATA communication provider
c. Intra-LATA communication provider
d. a and b
14. A device that serves as the demarcation point between local
telephone company and subscriber responsibility for
telephone service.
a. Drop wire
b. Subscriber loop
c. NID
d. SAI
15. These are unused sections of cable that are connected in
shunt to a working cable pair, such as local loop.
a. Bridge taps
b. Loading coils
c. Drop wires
d. Local loops
16. Caused by inadequate control of the frequency response
of a transmission system, poor filter design, or poor
filter performance.
a. Coupling crosstalk
b. Nonlinear crosstalk
c. Transmittance crosstalk
d. Linear crosstalk
17. Which exchange is used to connect between central
offices when a direct trunk is not available?
a. local
b. tandem
c. toll
d. any of the above
18. What is meant by the digital telecommunications term
ISDN?
a. Internet Services Data Network
b. Integrated Standard Digital Networks
c. Interactive Standard Dynamic Networks
d. Integrated Services Digital Network

19. The carrier that handles intra-LATA services is called a(n)

a. POP
b. IXC
c. LEC
d. None of the above
20. In __________ signaling, a portion of the bandwidth is used
for signaling and another portion for data.
a. In-band
b. Out-of-band
c. Mixed
d. None of the above

21. The United States are divided into many ___________.

a. LECs
b. LATAs
c. IXCs
d. None of the above
22. Inter-LATA services are provided by
a. POP
b. LEC
c. IXC
d. None of the above

23. The largest portion of the bandwidth for ADSL carries

____.
a. Voice communication
b. Upstream data
c. Downstream data
d. Control data
24. Rank the following transmission media according to their
channel capacity from the highest to the lowest.
a. Twisted Pair, Coaxial Cable, Optical Fiber
b. Optical Fiber, Twisted Pair, Coaxial cable
c. Optical Fiber, Coaxial Cable, Twisted Pair
d. Coaxial cable, Optic fiber, Twisted Pair
25. A television (TV) transmission is an example of which type
of transmission?
a. Simplex
b. Half duplex
c. Full duplex
d. Automatic