More Switching & Transmission Reading
George Gilder's 'Inventing the Internet' was first published in Forbes in June, 1997. It describes the beginning of packet switched networks and the start of the internet. Later on it describes future wireless technologies. It makes for excellent reading, putting my preliminary article on circuit switching and packet switching into context. I've put the article up at TelecomWriting.com since Gilder permitted its free distribution. Keep in mind a few things while you read.
Gilder does not address the voice delay problem inherent in packet switching, leaving the reader thinking that there are no drawbacks to voice over packet. That would be wrong, especially at the beginning of the 1970's. The second problem is that Gilder quotes a central figure in the article, a man who says a Bell System employee told him that packet switching would never work. But we cannot tell whether this AT&T employee was discussing data networks or voice networks. If the man said packet switching wouldn't work for data, well, that man would be wrong. But if he maintained that packet could not be substituted for circuit switching in the PSTN because of call quality, well, that man would be right, especially for the times. Aside from these two points, Gilder writes well and you will learn much.
Voice and data come together when telephone calls get put over the internet. For a good explanation on voice over the internet, click here for a free selection from Carrier Grade Voice Over IP by Daniel Collins (20 pages, 860K in .pdf)