Jan
23
We just got a bunch of intercoms installed at work that link the different offices and studios, so while I’m on-air I’ve been reading up on ISDN and POTS technologies.
Did you know:
- Phone companies shoot for 99.999% reliability for their POTS service. That means dial tone is available for all but five minutes each year.
- The pair of wires from your house to the central switching station is called a “subscriber loop.” It carries a load of about 300 ohms - which won’t kill you if you touch it, but has been called “an unpleasant sensation.”
- POTS is mostly unchanged from its introduction in the late 19th century.
- ISDN allows for digital transmission of voice, video, data, and other services on regular phone lines. Isn’t that awesome?
- It also (jokingly) stands for “Innovations Subscribers Don’t Need.”
- It’s used in the United States mostly for transmitting data to and from radio stations (hence my sudden fascination with it), recording studios, remote television broadcasts, and teleconferencing.
- ISDN is how we get our programming from the WERS studios near the Boston Common to the transmitter site & antenna atop a building in Boston’s Financial District.
This concludes this afternoon’s installment of “Martin Is A Dork.”
