Overview

Welcome to the world of Broadband Telecommunications again in this second edition! In this book, we attempt to deliver a series of different approaches to the use and application of telecommunications' principles, concepts, and guidelines and offer new approaches to the use of voice and data communications.

Last year, I wrote The Voice and Data Communications Handbook, Fourth Edition, as a means of introducing several new ways of looking at the telecommunications industry. The Voice and Data Handbook is so successful that it begs for a sequel with a more in-depth approach to the more technical aspect of the use of telecommunications. Therefore, my goal is to delve into the topics of broadband communications. For those who have not read other books on this topic, I will attempt to simplify the concepts discussed. For those who had a chance to read the first book (or others on this topic), I will attempt to pick up where we left off during the first volume. This book is structured by groupings of topics. For example, the first few chapters work with the convergence of voice and data networks as we see the virtual private networks, intelligent networks, and the portability of our systems for today and the future. Using a combined wired and wireless networking approach, we shall take one component at a time to determine what it is, what it does, and what it typically costs (not so much in actual cost as in opportunity costs).

After the first...