Telephone network

 ( Telecommunications Infrastructure ) 

A telephone network is a telecommunications network that connects telephones to support telephone call between them that facilitate human communication. The technology eventually came to be used for communication between humans and machines (i.e. fax and dial-up Internet access) although today this has been replaced with digital technology.

The world was transformed in the 1920s as the phone became ubiquitous, with people sharing news, , and personal information. During the 1990s, the phone helped transform the world again with the advent of computers, sophisticated communication devices, and via dial-up internet.

There are a number of types of telephone network:

Landline network

Telephones must be hard-wired to a telephone exchange. This is known as the public switched telephone network (PSTN).

Wireless network

Telephones are mobile phone; one can move around within the cellular network.

Private network

A group of telephones are connected primarily to each other and use a gateway to reach the outside world. This is usually used inside a company and a call center and is called a private branch exchange (PBX).

ISDN (ISDN)

A standard for transmitting voice, data, and video over traditional telephone lines using digital signals.

A telephone company owns and builds landline and wireless networks and provides services to the public under license from the national government. A mobile virtual network operators leases capacity wholesale from a telephone company and sells telephony service to the public directly.

• Telephone service (disambiguation)