History of Telecommunication and PSTN

Course Overview:

We start the course with a history lesson, understanding how and why telephone networks. Though Voice over IP, SIP and broadband Internet will eventually replace the PSTN and its circuit-switched, channelized and analog technologies, understanding POTS and the PSTN remains one of the key concepts of complete understanding of telecom. We will establish a basic model for the PSTN and understand its main components: Customer Premise, Central Office, loop, trunk, circuit switching, attenuation, loop length, remotes. Next, we’ll cover aspects of telephony and Plain Ordinary Telephone Service, including analog, the voiceband, twisted pair, supervision and signalling including DTMF. The course is completed with an overview of SS7, the control system for the telephone network in the US and Canada. On completion of this course, you will be able to draw a model of the PSTN, identify all of its components and technologies from voiceband analog to fiber to the neighborhood, and explain the characteristics and operation of POTS, the principal service.

Course Outline

• Introduction
• History of Telecommunications
• The Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN)
• Analog Circuits
• Plain Ordinary Telephone Service (POTS)
• Signaling: Pulse Dialing and DTMF
• Signaling System 7 (SS7)
• The Voiceband