Circuit Switching Versus Packet Switching
A circuit-switched network sets up a path between the source and destination devices. The two devices use the same path, or circuit, throughout the conversation. This is the model the original analog telephone system used. This telephony network, plain old telephone service (POTS) or Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), carried analog signals. Analog communications work well on circuit-switched networks because the messages are continuous. The devices that participate in the conversation have complete access to the circuit, even when they aren’t exchanging messages. Although many circuit-switched networks are analog, they can support digital communications as well.
The other common switching ...
Get Fundamentals of Communications and Networking, 3rd Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
