Modern telephone services and

network
Dr. Md Saiful Islam
 Modern telephone services and
network
• Internet telephony,
• facsimile,
• integrated services digital network,
• asynchronous transfer mode and
• intelligent networks.
 Internet telephony
• Internet telephony refers to communications services—voice, facsimile,
and/or voice-messaging applications—that are transported via the Internet,
rather than the public switched telephone network (PSTN).

• The basic steps involved in originating an Internet telephone call are

1. conversion of the analog voice signal to digital format and
2. compression/translation of the signal into Internet protocol (IP) packets for
transmission over the Internet.

• The process is reversed at the receiving end.

 What are the different ways Internet telephony can be used?
• PC-to-PC
• One needs a camera or microphone to interface with the computer. Using a
program such as Skype, AOL Instant Messenger, or Yahoo! Is it not imperative
that both users have a camera or microphone; there is also a text box for instant
messaging. Such services are typically free.
• PC-to-Phone
• Some programs, such as Skype, allow a computer user to dial an actual phone
number, so that one user is using their computer microphone and the other user is
using their telephone (be it cell phone or LAN line). These services typically are
not free.
• Phone-to-Phone
• Companies such as Vonage and VoicePulse offer phone-to-phone service for a
monthly fee. Typically, the user needs to purchase a device (such as the Cisco
PAP2T) that plugs into the user's Internet router. Any phone can then be plugged
into the device and used like normal.
 What is Voice over IP (VoIP)?

• Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is the most common method for placing
phone calls over the Internet.
• Traditionally phone calls were sent as analog signals through telephone
lines.
• With VoIP, your call is converted into data that is sent over the Internet:
Audio is sent over IP (Internet Protocol).
• This is the same technology that allows us to browse websites on the
Internet.
 How does it work?
• Transmitting voice and video via the Internet works much in the same way that all
transfers over the Internet work: in packets.
• Speech and/or video are sampled by the computer and are typically compressed to save
space.
• The compressed samples are then broken into small packets. Generally, an IP packet
contains around 20 to 30 milliseconds of audio.
• These smaller packets are then sent via the Internet to their destination, where they must
be re-assembled.
• As a result of this technological process, there is a delay from end-to-end of anywhere
between 100 and 400 milliseconds, perfectly acceptable to carry on a conversation.
• Occasionally packets are lost or delayed.
• CODECs use packet-loss concealment (PLC) to fill in the missing packet with audio that is
acceptable to the human ear. One technique of PLC is to repeat the last good packet.
 Advantages of VoIP
• More than one phone call can be transmitted on the same broadband
phone line. This way, voice over IP can facilitate the addition of telephone
lines to businesses without the need for additional physical lines.
• Features that are usually charged extra by telecommunication companies,
such as call forwarding, caller ID or automatic redialing, are simple with
voice over IP technology.
• Unified Communications are secured with voice over IP technology, as it
allows integration with other services available on the internet such as
video conversation, messaging, etc.
 Facsimile Transmission
• Facsimile Transmission, communication system that copies, sends, and
receives documents by way of telephone lines.
• Also called faxing, this method of communication allows people to share
exact copies of important papers by duplicating and sending them on one
end, and then receiving and reproducing them on the other.
• Facsimile machines came into use in the early 20th century when
newspaper companies began using them to transmit photographs between
branch offices.
• More recently, people have used personal computers to send and receive
facsimile transmissions, or faxes, eliminating the need for a separate
facsimile machine.
 How Facsimile Machines Work
• The standard facsimile machine works like a combination telephone
and photocopier.
• The user places the documents into a document feeder on the sending machine,
then dials the telephone number of the receiving fax machine.
• A gear mechanism pulls the original document over an optical scanner.
• The scanner records variation between light and dark areas of the document as
dots arranged in a series of rows or columns.
• A photoelectric cell converts the dots into electronic impulses, which are then
transmitted to the receiving fax machine via telephone lines.
• The receiving fax machine decodes the electrical impulses into a series of dots.
• It sends the decoded signal to a print mechanism built into the fax machine, which
prints a duplicate of the original document.
 Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN)

• Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) is a set of communication

standards for digital telephone connection and the transmission of voice
and data over a digital line.
• ISDN takes all kinds of data over a single telephone line at the same time.
• As such, voice and data are no longer separated as they were in earlier
technologies, which used separate lines for different services.
• ISDN is a circuit-switched telephone network system, but it also allows
access to packet-switched networks.
 What is ISDN?
INTEGRATED SERVICES DIGITAL NETWORK

• ISDN is a set of standards which define an end to end Digital

Network
• WAN Technology
 Features of ISDN
• Uses Digital Signal
• Uses Existing telephone wiring
• Charges are generally based on the duration of call (How long the WAN link
was used)
• Alternate to using leased lines
• Can transport many types of Network traffic (Voice, Data, Video, Text,
Graphics etc)
• Faster Data transfer rate than modems
• Faster Call setup than Modems
 BRI & PRI
• There are two main types of digital subscriber loops supported in ISDN to
fulfill user requirements.
• Basic Rate Interface(BRI): Supports two B channels and 1 D channel.
Hence supports about 192 kbps with 64 kbps B channel, 16 kbps D
channel and 48 overhead.
• Primary Rate Interface(PRI):Supports 23 B channels and 1 D channel.
Hence supports about 1.544 Mbps with 64 kbps B channel, 64 kbps D
channel and 8 overhead. 
 Intelligent Networks
• Over the last three decades, there have been a number of significant
technological developments in public switched networks (PSTN), namely
stored programmed control switches, digital switching, ISDN and recently the
introduction of intelligent networks (INs).

• An intelligent network (IN) is a service independent telecommunications

network.
• That is, intelligence is taken out of the switch and placed in computer nodes
that are distributed throughout the network.
• This provides the network operator with the means to develop and control
services more efficiently.
 Scope of Intelligent Network
• Types of networks: IN is applicable to a wide variety of networks,
including but not limited to: public switched telephone network (PSTN)
mobile, packet switched public data network (PSPDN) and integrated
services digital network (ISDN) – both narrow-band-ISDN (N-ISDN) and
broadband-ISDN (B-ISDN).
• Type of services: IN supports a wide variety of services, including
supplementary services, and utilizes existing and future bearer services
(e.g. as those defined in N-ISDN and B-ISDN contexts).
 Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)
• The Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) is the switching and multiplexing
technique chosen by CCITT for the broadband access to the ISDN.
• The user-network interface offers one physical channel over which
connections are multiplexed using short, fixed length packets (called cells).
• The ATM layer in the network performs relaying functions, with
every cell carrying a label used for switching.
 Aim of ATM
• 1. High speed data rate.
2. Low error rate between two or more switching centers.
3. Digital voice and videos.
4. Low operating cost.
Architecture of ATM
 Reference Model Planes
• User plane
– Provides for user information transfer
• Control plane
– Call and connection control
• Management plane
– Plane management
• whole system functions
– Layer management
• Resources and parameters in protocol entities
 Architecture of ATM

• 1. Physical layer
• Physical layer is a point-to-point transfer mechanism at the top of hardware (it may be
wire also).
• Physical layer adds its own information to each cell which is transmitted for link
management.

• 2. ATM layer
• ATM layer provides the routing information to the data cells.
• ATM interfaces with the AAL and the Physical layer.
• Functions of ATM layer are under the network management, signaling  and OAM protocol.
 Architecture of ATM

• 3. ATM Adaptation Layer

• AAL provides the flexibility of a single communication process to carry the
multiple types of traffic such as data, voice, video and multimedia.
• AAL is divided into two major parts.
• Upper part of the AAL is called as the convergence sublayer. Its task is to
provide the interface to the application.
• The lower part of the AAL is called as the segmentation and reassembly
(SAR) sublayer. It can add headers and trailers to the data units given to it
by the convergence sublayer to form cell payloads.
 More on…
• Leon-Garcia & Widjaja: Communication Networks

• Chapter 9
1. What is internet telephony? Write the basic steps of internet telephony.
2. What is Voice over IP (VoIP)? What are the different ways Internet telephony
can be used?
3. How does Internet telephony work? Explain briefly.
4. What is meant by How Facsimile Machines? How does Facsimile Machines
Work?
5. What is ISDN? Explain with proper diagram.
6. Write a short note intelligent network. What are the benefits of intelligent
network.
7. Explain the Architecture of ATM.