Introduction to Public Switched Telephone Networks (PSTN), Local Loop, Switching, DSL, ATM, SS7, and AIN by Lawrence Harte

Description

Public telephone networks are unrestricted dialing telephone networks that are available for public use to interconnect communications devices. This excerpted chapter from Telecom Made Simple provides an overview of public telephone networks including local loop, switching and digital services, competitive access providers (CAPs), and trends in the public telephone industry. There are also descriptions of many related topics, including: Local loops, switching systems, numbering plans, market growth, public telephone system interconnections, common channel signaling (SS7), advanced intelligent networks (AIN), plain old telephone service (POTS), integrated digital services network (ISDN), digital subscriber line (DSL), digital loop carrier (DLC), passive optical network (PON), and public services. Future enhancements such as high-speed multimedia services, packetized voice, fiber distribution networks, and soft switches are included.