Have you ever heard the term PSTN in relation to a phone system and wondered what it is? Well here is your opportunity to find out! PSTN stands for Public Switched Telephone Network. Comically enough, the service provided by the PSTN is also referred to as POTS…Plain Old Telephone Service, because that’s exactly what it is!
The PSTN is the older international telephone system that is comprised of a vast series of copper wires which carry the voice calls over analog technology. This is the very basic, old telephone service, since newer telephone networks are based on digital technologies such as FDDI and ISDN which provide much more reliable, crisper sound quality.
PSTN makes up the majority of the world’s interconnected voice-oriented public phone infrastructure and technology both on a government-owned and commercially-owned basis. The technology is a direct evolution from the days of telephone pioneer Alexander Graham Bell.
Other than the link that exists from the local telephone office to the actual phone users, PSTN has essentially been replaced throughout the United States, in favor of the preferable (for many reasons) digital technologies.
Aside from telephone service, PSTN is also a primary provider for the long-distance infrastructure for the Internet. Since ISPs (internet service providers) pay long distance service providers for the use of their wiring infrastructures and circuits through packet-switching, the “plain old” PSTN technology has made the internet much more widely available without having to bill internet users for usage tolls to anyone other than the ISP providing them their service. As it is today, the internet would not be possible without PSTN infrastructures and technologies that are in place.
Of course, it is the more advanced digital technologies that allow us to enjoy so many additional features on our phones, such as the Caller ID feature that can help us to identify a caller, or provide us with the information we need to perform a phone number lookup and find out who has called while we were away. However, keep in mind that while we depend on the digital technology for the Caller ID feature, it is the PSTN technology that provides the internet service for the reverse phone search itself!
Author: Braden Harris
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Guest blogger
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