spacer
rule
spacer
The Phone System
spacer
rule
spacer

You probably use it at least once a day, but have you ever wondered how the plain old telephone system works? How does your voice get from your kitchen telephone to your Aunt Belinda's living room 2,000 miles away? At www.att.com/technology/forstudents/
brainspin/routing, you can find the basics of how local and long-distance calls are routed. An interactive exercise at this site provides some insight into the tasks that switching computers perform. POTS (plain old telephone system) is just one facet of today's telephone network. Pacific Bell provides a user's guide to ISDN at its Web site, http://www.pacbell.com/
Products_Services/Residential/ISDNuserguide/ that can help you learn more about this type of high speed telephone line. Look up ADSL at www.webopaedia.com, then follow the links provided to find information about this emerging technology.
spacer
spacer
Additional Links

DSL Forum   Asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL)--like ISDN--is a solution to the bandwidth problem based on the existing telephone system. Here you can find a FAQ on ADSL, technical information, market information, editorials, and information about trials and service deployment.

New Modems Held Hostage to the Old Phone Network   This article from The New York Times explains that analog elements remaining in the telephone system limit the speeds that "high speed" modems can deliver. ISDN is the current likely solution to this problem, but it remains unavailable in many parts of the country and extremely expensive for consumers.

Electrical Lines Could Zap Data to (and Through) Homes   To date, the telephone and cable systems have been the vehicles for data transmission. But another set of wires is becoming available for carrying data--the electrical wires in your home. This article from The New York Time's weekly feature "Mind & Machine" describes new devices that are enabling transmission of data over electrical lines.
spacer
rule
spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer spacer
Computer Concepts 4e spacer Computer Concepts and Computers, Technology, and Society spacer Return to the CD spacer Computer Concepts Illustrated
dotclear.gif (42 bytes)
Click to see a list of all Computer Concepts 4e InfoWebs. spacer Click to see a list of all Computer Concepts 3e InfoWebs. spacer If you are using the CD, close your browser to return to it. spacer Click to see a list of all Illustrated Computer Concepts InfoWebs.
spacer
Course Technology HomeAbout Course TechnologyCourse Technology
spacer
spacer © Copyright 1999, 2000 Course Technology