Overview of the PSTN and

comparisons to Voice over IP

The Beginning of the PSTN
 Alexander Graham Bell (1876)
 Ring-down circuit
 Bi-directional voice transmission
 Carbon microphone
 battery
 Electromagnet
 Iron diaphragm
Basic Four-phone network

Location 1 Location 2

Location 3

Location 4
 Physical Cable between all
telephone user
 Location 8 Location 7

Location 6
Location 1

Location 2
Location 5

Location 3 Location 4

N x (N-1)/2
Human Switch
Location 1 Location 2


Telephone Operator

Location 4 Location 3
Understanding PSTN basics
 Analog and Digital Signaling
Analog waveform

Amplitude

Time
 Analog Line Distortion
Talker
Amplifier Amplifier

Original Line Noise Line Noise Cumulative

Signal Noise Amplified Noise Amplified Line Noise

Time
Digital Line Distortion
Talker
Repeater Repeater

010 010 010 010 010

Time
Original Repeater Repeater
Line Line
Digital “Clean” “Clean”
Noise Noise
Signal Signal Signal
Digital Voice Signals
 PCM (Pulse Code Modulation)
Voice Digitization

 Analog-to-Digital Conversion
 discrete samples of the waveform and represent each
sample by some number of bits
 A signal can be reconstructed if it is sampled at a
minimum of twice the maximum freq.
 Why? Send email to [email protected]

 Human speech
 0-4KHz (300-3400 Hz used in telephony)
 8000 samples per second
Digitizing Voice: PCM
Waveform Encoding

 Nyquist Theorem: sample at twice the

highest frequency
 Voice frequency range: 300-3400 Hz
 Sampling frequency = 8000/sec (every 125us)
 Bit rate: (2 x 4 KHz) x 8 bits per sample
 = 64,000 bits per second (DS-0)
 By far the most commonly used method
Digitizing Analog Voice

 Steps involved in digitizing voice

 Sampling
 Quantization
 Encoding
 Compression (optional)
Analog to PCM Conversion

Analog
Signal PAM PCM
Signal Signal
Sampler Quantizer Encoder

PCM Word
10110111

Analog PAM Quantizing Encoded

Signal Signal Signal Signal
Local Loops, Trunks, and
Interswitch Communication
 Circuit-switching Hierarchy
Higher-layer
Tandem
Switches

Local Tandem
Switches

Central Office
Switches
PSTN Signaling

 User-to-network signaling

 Network-to-network signaling
User-to-network signaling
 In-band signaling
 DTMF (Dual Tone Multi-Frequency)
 MF (Multi-Frequency)
 Out-band signaling
 ISDN
 BRI
 PRI
DTMF Dialing
Supported on Cisco routers

Dual Tone Multifrequency (DTMF)

1209 1336 1477 1633

697 1 2 3 A

770 4 5 6 B

852 7 8 9 C

941 * 0 # D
BRI
Out-of-band signaling benefits
 Signaling is multiplexed into common
channel.
 Glare is reduced.
 A lower post dialing.
 Call completion is greatly increased.
Network-to-Network signaling
 T1/E1 Carrier over Twisted pair.
 T1 is a 1.544-Mpbs digital transmission link (Use in North
America and Japan)
 E1 is a 2.048-Mpbs Digital link (Used in Europe)
 T3/E3, T4 carrier over coaxial cable
 T3 carrier 28T1 or 672 64-Kpbs connection and is 44.736
Mbps.
 E3 carrier 16T1 or 512 64-Kpbs connection and is 34.368
Mbps.
 T4 handles 168 T1 circuit or 4032 4-kbps connection and
is 274.176 Mbps.
Network-to-Network signaling
 T3, T4 carrier over the microwave
link
 SONET (Synchronous Optical Network)
across fiber media
 SONET is normally deployed
 OC-3 155.52 Mbps
 OC-12 622.08 Mbps
 OC-48 2.488 Gbps
Network-to-Network signaling
 MF (Multi Frequency) and RBS (Robbed
Bit Signaling) signaling
 These are in-band type of signaling.
 These signaling types can be used as user-to-
network signaling.
 MF is similar to DTMF but utilizes different
frequency.
Network-to-Network signaling
 DCS (Digital Carrier System)
 Use A and B bit to indicate on/off hook
 The A/B bits are set emulate Single Frequency
tone.
 SF (Single Frequency) use the presence and
absence of a signal A/B bit translation.
 SS7 (Signaling System 7)
 Network-to-network signaling also use out-of-
band signaling knows as SS7
SS7
 It also used to connect switches and
database for network base servers.
 Benefits of moving to an SS7 network
 Reduce post-dialing delay
 Initial setup message
 Each MF take 50 ms to transmit.
 0.5 second delay per PSTN hop.
 Increase call completion.
 Connected to the IN (Intelligent Network).
 PSTN Call Flow to Grandma’s
House
Switch SS7 Switch

Off hook

Dial tone

digits IAM IAM setup

IAM (Initial Address Message)

Ring tone ACM ACM alerting ACM (Address Complete Message)

CONNECT ANM ANM

Off hook ANM (ANswer Message)

CONN ACK

DISCONN REL REL DISCONN

REL (Release)

RELEASE
RLC (Release Conform)
RELEASE RLC RLC

REL ACK
PSTN Services and Network
 Popular custom calling features.
 Call waiting
 Call Forwarding
 Three-way calling
PSTN Services and Network
 With the deployment of SS7
 Display calling parity calling number.
 Call blocking.
 Calling line ID blocking.
 Auto call back.
 Circuit switched long distance.
 Per-paid and post-paid calling cards.
 Private leased lines.
PSTN Numbering Plan
 Essentially two number plans are used
with the PSTN
 NANP (North American Numbering Plan)
 ITU-T (International Telecommunication
Union Telecommunication)
NANP
 NAMP is an 11 digit plan.
ITU-T
 ITU-T recommendation E.164 specifies
that
 Country Code (CC).
 National Destination Code (NDC).
 Subscriber Number (SN).
Drawbacks to the PSTN
 Data has overtaken voice as primary
traffic.
 The PSTN cannot create and deploy
features quickly enough.
 Data/Voice/video (D/V/V) cannot
converge on PSTN as currently build.
 The architecture build of voice is not
flexible enough to carry data
Drawbacks to the PSTN

 Circuit switching calls require

permanent 64-Kbps dedicated circuit
between the two telephones.
Standard-Base Packet
Infrastructure Layer
 The ITU-T recommends of one way
delay of no more then 150 ms.
 In cisco VoIP networks, the
unidirectional delay might be 120 ms
 Currently, 65 ms to 85 ms of that 120
ms delay id derived from two cisco VoIP
gateways.
Standard-Base Packet
Infrastructure Layer
 Jitter
 Jitter is the variation of interpacket arrival
time, or the difference between when a
packet is supposed to be receive and when
it is actually received.
 One of the main benefits of IP is the
fact that properly build IP networks are
self-healing.
 Delay
Sender Receiver
PBX PBX
Network

First Bit Last Bit

Transmitted Received
A A
Network t
Processing Transit Processing
Delay Delay Delay
End-to-End Delay
Delay Variation—“Jitter”
Sender Receiver
Network

A B C Sender Transmits

A B C Sink Receives

D1 D2 = D1 D3 = D2 t
Open Call-Control Layer
 It is the process of making the routing
decision While in PSTN decision are
carried out by ss7 and are made by
SCPs (Service Control Point)
 Voice over IP Protocols

Presentation G.729(A)/G.723(.1)/G.711
VoIP Controls
Session H.323/MGCP/SIP

Transport RTP/UDP/RSVP

Network IP/WFQ/IP-prec

Link MLPPP/FR/ATM AAL1

Physical – – –
H.323
 Types of circuit switched calls

Call on same switch

a calling b

Call established through

multiple switches
c calling d

End-Office
Central Office Tandem for calls within city
Local Exchange Transit for calls out of city
CLASS 5 switch