Covering the latest trends and technology changes, this is the fully updated and revised bestselling guide to telecommunications for the nontechnical professional. Includes sections on convergence, globalization, speech recognition, and 3G cellular networks.

“Annabel Dodd has cogently untangled the wires and switches and technobabble of the telecommunications revolution and explained how the introduction of the word ‘digital’ into our legislative and regulatory lexicon will affect consumers, companies and society into the next millennium.” – United States Senator Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts; Member, U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, Innovation, and the Internet “Annabel Dodd has a unique knack for explaining complex technologies in understandable ways. This latest revision of her book covers the rapid changes in the fields of broadband, cellular, and streaming technologies; newly developing 5G networks; and the constant changes happening in both wired and wireless networks. This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the rapidly evolving world of telecommunications in the 21st century!” – David Mash, Retired Senior Vice President for Innovation, Strategy, and Technology, Berklee College of Music Completely updated for current trends and technologies, The Essential Guide to Telecommunications, Sixth Edition, is the world’s top-selling, accessible guide to the fast-changing global telecommunications industry. Writing in easy-to-understand language, Dodd demystifies today’s most significant technologies, standards, architectures, and trends. She introduces leading providers worldwide, explains where they fit in the marketplace, and reveals their key strategies. New topics covered in this edition include: LTE Advanced and 5G wireless, modern security threats and countermeasures, emerging applications, and breakthrough techniques for building more scalable, manageable networks. Gain a practical understanding of modern cellular, Wi-Fi, Internet, cloud, and carrier technologies Discover how key technical, business, and regulatory innovations are changing the industry See how streaming video, social media, cloud computing, smartphones, and the Internet of Things are transforming networks Explore growing concerns about security and privacy, and review modern strategies for detecting and mitigating network breaches Learn how Software Defined Networks (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) add intelligence to networks, enabling automation, flexible configurations, and advanced networks Preview cutting-edge, telecom-enabled applications and gear–from mobile payments to drones Whether you’re an aspiring network engineer looking for a broad understanding of the industry, or a salesperson, marketer, investor, or customer, this indispensable guide provides everything you need to know about telecommunications right now. This new edition is ideal for both self-study and classroom instruction. Register your product for convenient access to downloads, updates, and/or corrections as they become available.

The bestselling nontechnical, guide to next-generation wireless applications, fully updated for the latest technologies and business realities. The book contains all-new coverage of wireless economics including the most promising opportunities in tough markets.

This practical handbook and reference provides a complete understanding of the telecommunications field supported by descriptions and case examples throughout Taking a practical approach, The Telecommunications Handbook examines the principles and details of all of the major and modern telecommunications systems currently available to industry and to end-users. It gives essential information about usage, architectures, functioning, planning, construction, measurements and optimisation. The structure of the book is modular, giving both overall descriptions of the architectures and functionality of typical use cases, as well as deeper and practical guidelines for telecom professionals. The focus of the book is on current and future networks, and the most up-to-date functionalities of each network are described in sufficient detail for deployment purposes. The contents include an introduction to each technology, its evolution path, feasibility and utilization, solution and network architecture, and technical functioning of the systems (signalling, coding, different modes for channel delivery and security of core and radio system). The planning of the core and radio networks (system-specific field test measurement guidelines, hands-on network planning advices and suggestions for the parameter adjustments) and future systems are also described. Each chapter covers aspects individually for easy reference, including approaches such as: functional blocks, protocol layers, hardware and software, planning, optimization, use cases, challenges, solutions to potential problems Provides very practical detail on the planning and operation of networks to enable readers to apply the content in real-world deployments Bridges the gap between the communications in the academic context and the practical knowledge and skills needed to work in the telecommunications industry Section divisions include: General theory; Fixed telecommunications; Mobile communications; Space communications; Other and special communications; and Planning and management of telecommunication networks Covers new commercial and enhanced systems deployed, such as IPv6 based networks, LTE-Advanced and GALILEO An essential reference for Technical personnel at telecom operators; equipment and terminal manufacturers; Engineers working for network operators.

This book is the study guide and textbook for the TCO Certified Telecommunications Network Specialist (CTNS) Certification, conforming to the lessons in the eight CTNS courses and their exams: 2241 Introduction to Broadband Converged IP Telecom 2206 Wireless Telecommunications 2221 Fundamentals of Voice over IP 2201 The PSTN 2212 OSI Layers and Protocol Stacks 2211 LANs, VLANs, Wireless and Optical Ethernet 2213 IP Addresses, Packets and Routers 2214 MPLS and Carrier Networks The selection of material, its order, timing, and explanations are field-tested to deliver the core knowledge set for today’s telecommunications. The courses deliver a solid foundation of knowledge in broadband, telecom, datacom and networking: the fundamentals, technologies, jargon and buzzwords, standard practices and most importantly, the underlying ideas, and how it all fits together… with TCO Certification to prove it! The first four CTNS courses are on telecommunications, beginning with Introduction to Broadband Converged IP Telecom, an introduction and first pass through all of the topics; followed by Wireless Telecommunications, then Introduction to Voice over IP, and The PSTN. The second half of CTNS is four courses focusing on the three main enabling technologies for the modern telecom network: Ethernet, IP and MPLS. We begin with the OSI model and its Layers to establish a framework for understanding what each does and how they work together... and all the other things that have to be done. This book is intended to enhance your learning and retention while taking the online courses. It is also useful as a day-to-day reference handbook and glossary. Our goal is to explain the big picture, the jargon and buzzwords, and put in place a very solid base of telecom knowledge spanning fundamentals to the latest technologies and how they are deployed – in plain English. Let's get started!

Find out how to manage your telecom services and save your company money! Worldwide telecom spending was over $4 trillion in 2004, and virtually all 12 million businesses in the U.S. buy phone and other telecom services Our book shows people at small and medium-sized businesses how to make sense of telecom lingo and get the best deals Includes an overview of the major players in the telecom industry and an easy-to-understand explanation of the existing telecom infrastructure Helps people pinpoint the telecom services best suited to their business needs, understand billing, and troubleshoot problems Covers emerging industry trends, such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), and how they can help businesses cut costs