Rating: 
Summary: Excellent professional reference....
Review: This book is an excellent professional reference for anyone needing to get a jump start on learning about data and telecommunications. Not a detailed techie book, this book provides the crash course hinted at in the title by hitting all of the major issues that one will run into in voice and data networking today and quickly get you up to speed on the basics. It is accurate *and* well-written!! Great preparatory reading also before going to the next level.
Rating:
Summary: Required reference for any telecomm pro's bookshelf
Review: This book should be required reading for students and those just getting started in any aspect of the networking or telecommunications business. Few companies will have all of the telecomm equipment or need to know all of the telecomm theory covered in this large and complete text. But if your company has multiple sites connected together or if you are connected to the Internet by anything from dial up telephone to T-3, then this book should be on your IT manager's desktop within easy reach. It is a comprehensive look at the various methods of connecting data in your organization over distance using anything from telephone line to optical to cable to wireless. Though this book does go into some detail about telecomm theory it does not go too deep. It covers a broad landscape of subjects: protocols, the telephone system, the customer premises (LAN technology), access technology (from the premises to the telephone system), and transport technologies (Frame Relay, ATM and optical.) It is for busy IT professionals who might need a quick reminder of what ATM classes and services are or what a DSLAM is or what ADPCM is to high capacity circuits and don't need their desks cluttered with single subject books, i.e., a telephony book, a LAN book, an ATM book, et cetera. As a network professional, my bookcase is jammed full of those other books, but this is the one I'll grab if I need quick answers for most general questions. Also, the author has an easy to read style, diagrams, photos and includes some interesting anecdotes of telecomm history as well.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Introduction, in the opinion of a Telecom newcomer
Review: This is a fantastic book if you want an overview that focuses on technical and some business aspects of telecommunications, and are someone that enjoys reading more techie-oriented material. (For the record, I am an MechE by training who is now working for one of the companies mentioned in the book, so this really was my entire Intro course to Telecom, and I plan to continue my learning. This book was an excellent guide for future, more in-depth subjects to pursue.)
The book does an excellent job of being ubiquitous and covering all the aspects of the telecom field that you've ever heard about. At the same, I found it easy to skip around in reading chapters, based on my own priorities in buying the book. The chapters are divided very logically into sections on the Telephone network, Access technologies, Transport options, Protocols, etc. (if you have no idea what I'm talking about, you will after reading this book :).
One of my favorite aspects of the books is that the author is very good at using diagrams to supplement his text, which can be rare in more engineering/technical books. The whole picture-worth-a-thousand-words idea, especially if you take the time to go through the diagrams.
Yes, the text can require a few read-throughs - but telecommunications itself is a dense field that really requires one to be patience in reading and gain understanding of the technology. There *is* a lot of detail stuffed through out the chapters, and perhaps not everyone will care to know everything -- but that is alright, there is no harm in skipping the nitty-gritty of sections that do not interest you. Please, please, please do not let the bad reviews of this book discourage you from checking it out. I just finished reading the entire book, and wanted to log on to share my high opinion of it.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Introduction, in the opinion of a Telecom newcomer
Review: This is a fantastic book if you want an overview that focuses on technical and some business aspects of telecommunications, and are someone that enjoys reading more techie-oriented material. (For the record, I am an MechE by training who is now working for one of the companies mentioned in the book, so this really was my entire Intro course to Telecom, and I plan to continue my learning. This book was an excellent guide for future, more in-depth subjects to pursue.)
The book does an excellent job of being ubiquitous and covering all the aspects of the telecom field that you've ever heard about. At the same, I found it easy to skip around in reading chapters, based on my own priorities in buying the book. The chapters are divided very logically into sections on the Telephone network, Access technologies, Transport options, Protocols, etc. (if you have no idea what I'm talking about, you will after reading this book :).
One of my favorite aspects of the books is that the author is very good at using diagrams to supplement his text, which can be rare in more engineering/technical books. The whole picture-worth-a-thousand-words idea, especially if you take the time to go through the diagrams.
Yes, the text can require a few read-throughs - but telecommunications itself is a dense field that really requires one to be patience in reading and gain understanding of the technology. There *is* a lot of detail stuffed through out the chapters, and perhaps not everyone will care to know everything -- but that is alright, there is no harm in skipping the nitty-gritty of sections that do not interest you. Please, please, please do not let the bad reviews of this book discourage you from checking it out. I just finished reading the entire book, and wanted to log on to share my high opinion of it.
Rating:
Summary: Steve Does It Again
Review: This is a great book for both the beginner and the experienced practitioner in telecommunications. Steve presents a balance of the technical AND business issues facing telecommunications service providers and telecommunications service consumers. It's rare to find a book that combines both aspects so well. Steve's writing style is conversational and he neither overwhelms nor "dumbs down" the material. Highly recommended!
|
