Telecoms service providers and businesses are increasingly relying on a single type of network to provide all services including telephony and video conferencing.

The PTT online course which provides a comprehensive introduction to “Voice over IP” (VoIP) has recently been updated to reflect the latest developments in the technology. Apart from introducing VoIP principles and protocols, the course MAB: “Voice over IP” reviews the use of VoIP for fixed line and mobile telephony services.

GSM based TETRA has, for many years, provided emergency services around the world with reliable mobile communications with all of the special facilities needed by, for example, the police.

However, TETRA can only provide low speed data transfer making such facilities as live video streaming all but impossible. For this reason, the provision of critical communications using LTE mobile systems are being planned by several countries including the UK and the USA.

PTT’s updated course MBG: “LTE mobile systems” now includes descriptions of the extra facilities added by the 3GPP to LTE standards to enable critical communications.

As consumers of online services, we expect ever higher broadband speeds. For service providers, the challenge is to meet our expectations while keeping installation and maintenance costs to a minimum.

Several technologies that are available now or are on the immediate horizon promise the way forward for fixed line broadband services. These include G.fast and TWDM PONs.

PTT’s new online course TCD: “Next generation access networks” explains the principles, capabilities and applications of the technologies that will underpin tomorrow’s broadband services.

The browser version of this course can be accessed on your computer. Alternatively download the learntelecoms App to study the course on a tablet (Android or iPad).