However, the company won't say when those users will be able to buy the service. This is enough to support hundreds of simultaneous voice calls, Braden says. Incoming calls are fielded by traditional Class 5 local telephone switches connected to cable TV headends, then dropped on fiber links leading to customer sites. At multiplexer nodes, optical signals are converted to electrical and sent along the coaxial cable to the customer. At customer sites, a network interface unit strips the voice traffic and diverts it to the existing inside telephone wiring.
Customers use their regular phones.
In the final phase, the cable telephony standard known as Data Over Cable Interface Specification is adopted and voice is packetized at the handset and transported accordingly. World Wide Packets builds units that bring 1-gigabit Ethernet to homes. The bad news is these services may not develop the way many thought they would, forcing us to reconsider the Internet's role in entertainment. Feedback Tell us your thoughts on this article or the issues raised in it. When you click Submit, you'll be taken back to this article.