CCNA Voice 640-461

Historic Voice: Digital Connectivity

Historic Voice: Digital Connectivity

Solving the writing problem: TDM

Understanding T1 and E1 CAS specifics

Understanding T1 and E1 CSS specifics

Historic Voice: Digital Connectivity

Time-division multiplexing (TDM)

- Digital voice uses a technology known as time-division multiplexing (TDM)

-TDM allows voice networks to carry multiple conversations at the same time
over a single, four-wire path.

- Because the multiple conversations have been digitized, the numeric values
are transmitted in specific time slots (thus, the time division) that
differentiate the separate conversations.
Historic Voice: Digital Connectivity

- Each of the voice conversations been digitized and assigned a numeric

value and transmitted over the digital PSTN connection.

- Based on the time the voice data was sent, the PSTN carrier is able to
distinguish and reassemble the voice conversations.

- Corporations use digital voice connections to the PSTN as T1 circuits in

the United States, Canada, and Japan.

- A T1 circuit is built from 24 separate 64-kbps channels known as a digital

signal 0 (DS0).

- Each one of these channels is able to support a single voice call.

- Corporations in areas outside the United States, Canada, and Japan use
E1 circuits, which allow you to use up to 30 DS0s for voice calls.
Historic Voice: Digital Connectivity
Signaling Systems

- With analog circuits, supervisory signals were passed by connecting

the tip and ring wires together. The phone company generated
informational and address signals through specific frequencies of
electricity.

- By solving the problems associated with analog signaling, digital

signaling also removed the typical signaling capabilities.

-To solve this, two primary styles of signaling were created for digital
circuits:

Channel associated signaling (CAS): Signaling information is transmitted

using the same bandwidth as the voice.

Common channel signaling (CCS): Signaling information is transmitted

using a separate, dedicated signaling channel.

- PBXs and Cisco devices use T1 and E1 interfaces to convey voice.

Historic Voice: Digital Connectivity

T1 Channel Associated Signaling

- T1 combines 24 separate voice channels onto a single link

- The T1 data stream is broken into frames consisting of a single framing bit plus 24
channels of 8-bit bytes (1 framing bit per frame + 24 channels per frame X 8 bits per
channel = 193 bits per frame)

- The frames must repeat 8,000 times per second in order to properly recreate the
voice signal. Thus, the required bit rate for T1 is 1.544 Mbps (8,000 frames per second
X 193 bits per frame)

T1 Framing Bit
Historic Voice: Digital Connectivity

T1 Channel Associated Signaling

Historic Voice: Digital Connectivity

-This process occurs for every sixth frame after this (12th, 18th, 24th, and so on)

- This stolen bit relays the signaling information for each respective DS0 channel
Historic Voice: Digital Connectivity

E1 Channel Associated Signaling

-In E1 framing and signaling, 30 of the 32 available channels, or time slots, are
used for voice and data

- Framing information uses time slot 1, while time slot 17 (E0 16) is used for
signaling by all the other time slots.

-This signaling format is also known as CAS because the use of the bits in the 17th
time slot is exclusively reserved for the purpose of signaling each respective
channel.
Historic Voice: Digital Connectivity

Common channel signaling (CCS)

-Common channel signaling (CCS) differs from CAS in that all channels use a
common channel and protocol for call setup.

- CCS dedicates one of the DS0 channels from a T1 or E1 link for signaling
information.

-This is often called out-of-band signaling because the signaling traffic is sent
completely separate from the voice traffic.

- When using CCS configurations with T1 lines, the 24th time slot is always the
signaling channel. As a result, a T1 connection using CCS has only 23 usable
DS0s for voice.

- When using CCS configurations with E1 lines, the 17th time slot is always the
signaling channel

- Allows the use of a signaling protocol rather than just four bits of signaling per
channel. A full signaling protocol sends the necessary information for all voice
channels.
Historic Voice: Digital Connectivity

Common channel signaling (CCS)

-CCS is the most popular connection used between voice systems worldwide
because it offers more flexibility with signaling messages, more bandwidth for the
voice bearer channels, and higher security (because the signaling is not embedded
in the voice channel)

- CCS also allows PBX vendors to communicate proprietary messages (and

features) between their PBX systems using ISDN signaling, whereas CAS does not
offer any of these capabilities.
Historic Voice: Digital Connectivity

ISDN

-Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) is an all-digital phone line

connection that was standardized in the early 1980s

-ISDN is actually a set of communication protocols proposed by telephone

companies that allows them to carry a group of digital services that
simultaneously convey data, text, voice, music, graphics, and video to end
users, and it was designed to achieve this over the telephone systems already in
place.

-ISDN provides greater bandwidth and lower latency compared to dialup

analog technology

-Although ISDN has been around for many years, the industry is moving toward
using broadband technologies such as cable, DSL and public wireless with
IPsec VPNs.

-ISDN remains as an effective WAN solution only if broadband is not available.

Historic Voice: Digital Connectivity
References

Cioara, J., Valentine, M. (2012). CCNA Voice 640-461 Official Cert Guide,
Cisco Press, USA

Davidson, J., Peters, J., Bhatia, M., Kalidindi, S., Mukherjee, S. (2006). Voice
over IP Fundamentals, Second Edition, Cisco Press, USA

Froehlich, A. (2010). CCNA Voice Study Guide, Wiley Publishing, Inc.,

Indianapolis, Indiana

Kaza, R., Asadullah, S. (2005). Cisco IP Telephony: Planning, Design,

Implementation, Operation, and Optimization, Cisco Press, USA

Wallace, K. (2005). Voice over IP First-Step, Cisco Press, USA

Wallace, K. (2006). Authorized Self-Study Guide Cisco Voice over IP

(CVoice), Cisco Press, USA