Rating: 
Summary: One of the best technical books I've read.
Review: This book give a clear concise description of the protocol and its applications. It is very readable to the person that is relatively new to the topic, yet full of helpful information for the more experienced.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: This book is a great book for understanding the SS7 network. I read a couple of the reviews on this book. One saying that a lot of "cutting and pasting" (meaning it was the same information in different sections, and another saying that it was "difficult to understand". I beg to differ on these opinions. I found that with this book Mr. Russell started very general, and as the book moved along, he got into the more technical specific areas. When going into the more technical areas, he explained the general topics, again briefly, which reienforced what was taught in previous chapters. I thought this approach made the book very informative, and therefore, really helped the reader to understand SS7. I can speak first hand on how much this book helped me. I had limited knowledge of SS7. I had worked with a company that provided a subscriber service, Voice Activated Dialing, for cellular companies. My company went out of business, and I was interviewing with a company that provides many different SS7 solutions and test tools. I had four interviews with this company, the last of which was a written test on SS7. Before the last interview, I bought this book and got the job. In fact, the company told me that I had given them so much information, that it was no competition. This book was the foundation for that.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: This book is a great book for understanding the SS7 network. I read a couple of the reviews on this book. One saying that a lot of "cutting and pasting" (meaning it was the same information in different sections, and another saying that it was "difficult to understand". I beg to differ on these opinions. I found that with this book Mr. Russell started very general, and as the book moved along, he got into the more technical specific areas. When going into the more technical areas, he explained the general topics, again briefly, which reienforced what was taught in previous chapters. I thought this approach made the book very informative, and therefore, really helped the reader to understand SS7. I can speak first hand on how much this book helped me. I had limited knowledge of SS7. I had worked with a company that provided a subscriber service, Voice Activated Dialing, for cellular companies. My company went out of business, and I was interviewing with a company that provides many different SS7 solutions and test tools. I had four interviews with this company, the last of which was a written test on SS7. Before the last interview, I bought this book and got the job. In fact, the company told me that I had given them so much information, that it was no competition. This book was the foundation for that.
Rating: 
Summary: An attempt at an SS7 Book
Review: This book is so badly written and contains so many errors that you are better off reading what you can find on the web, and once that is grasped, reading the specs. Do not expect to become an expert on SS7 with this book - it is hard to read, and as said contains major errors.
Rating: 
Summary: An Excellent 2nd book on SS7
Review: This book might be a little heavy as an intro to SS7 (See Uyless Black's "ISDN & SS7" for that), but it's a great 2nd book; a book to get after you've got the basic concepts and now need to go into the details. It's got a tremendous amount of detail, and is a lot easier to deal with than the Specs.
Rating:
Summary: Impressive
Review: This is one of the few genuinely useful reference books I've purchased. Yes, it covers with a great deal of complicated material, but the book is well organized, and index is strong, a big help.As to charges of repetition, each chapter is structured to cover the material at three different levels -- basics, detailed meat, and numbers and specs. This would be clear to anyone who actually read the book, and is helpful if you're not an engineer. I haven't seen anything on SS7 or signaling half as useful.
Rating:
Summary: Expensive door-stop
Review: This is quite possibly the most badly written book I have ever read. All the concepts and details are in there - but, just like Prego, there's no particular order or discernable logic to it. At least with Prego, you can get something to eat out of the deal.. Russell's book introduces ideas and concepts before they're defined, repeats definitions, and generally just meanders around. And, for the nit-picky, the grammar is sloppy as well. Anybody wishing to learn about SS7 would be better off searching the internet and reading the SS7 tutorials found there. I'm using my copy as a $69.00 door-stop.
Rating:
Summary: Best for the beginners
Review: This is the best book to start with for a person who is entering the telecom software field and a good handy reference for the experienced as well. As the world of telecom is changing so rapidly I think it's high time Travis came up with revised edition, though.
Rating:
Summary: Poorly written, poorly organized
Review: This is the only widely available book that covers SS7 is great detail. Unfortuntely, the writing is terrible and the organization is worse. Russel goes off on many pointless digressions and replicates material in almost every chapter. It is very hard to get a good idea of how SS7 actually works from this book, as few real-life examples are given. However, it isn't a bad place to start if you want to learn about SS7 from scratch. Then, once you understand the basics, do find another resource such as the standards to go to.
Rating:
Summary: A definite addition to the library
Review: This review refers to the 3rd edition . I must tend to agree with the other reviewers . In general this is an excellent book as a reference and well worth the investment but I have found it to be lacking when used as a tool in practical appliaction . Mr Russell's description of link alingnment could , in my opinion , have been greatly enhanced by the use of flow charts ( see ISBN 0780311582 , Enginering networks for synchronization, ccs7 and isdn , page 133 for an example ) . " A picture is worth a thousand words " springs to mind . Also , when refering to timers for level 2 and 3 Mr Russell does not actually list either the ITU-T or Bellcore values . A simple table would be a good addition . I found this to be particularly frustrating and again turned to other sources . Having said this I still strongly recommend this book .
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