Telecommunications Training Blog – Tutorials and articles from Teracom Training Institute. Bringing you the best in telecom training and certification since 1992.

TCO Certified VoIP Analyst

Get fully up to speed on Voice over IP and SIP technologies and implementations –and TCO CVA Certification to prove it!

CVA covers all aspects of Voice over IP, including all the different ways VoIP is implemented, how calls are set up with softswitches and SIP, how voice is packetized and the factors affecting sound quality, connecting to carriers and SIP trunking, and network quality with MPLS, Service Level Agreements and Class of Service.

The Certified VoIP Analyst Certification Package includes six online courses:
  2221 Fundamentals of Voice over IP
  2222 VoIP Architectures and Implementation Choices
  2223 Softswitches, SIP, Call Setup and SIP Trunking
  2224 Voice Packetization, Codecs and Voice Quality
  2225 SIP Trunking and Carrier Connections
  2226 IP Network Quality: CoS, QoS, MPLS AND SLAs

This knowledge enables a CVA to stand out from the rest, with demonstrated broad and deep vendor-agnostic knowledge of VoIP systems and best practices.

This kind of knowledge enables higher-paying positions performing analysis, writing reports, making recommendations and providing effective, value-added contributions in project management, business and product development, software design, sales, marketing and finance.

The CVA Certification Package includes six courses totaling 59 lessons, plus the TCO CVA Certification Exam, TCO Certificate suitable for framing and Personalized Letter of Reference.

You get unlimited repeats of courses and exams, no time limits.
Guaranteed to pass, refresh your knowledge anytime.
30-day 100% money-back guarantee.

You have nothing to lose – and a valuable certification to gain!

These courses build on IP and PSTN fundamentals. If you are completely new to telecom, we recommend you take the CTNS courses first to build a knowledge base, then the CVA courses.

Purchase courses in this set of six in the CVA Certification Package, or individual courses as best meets your needs.

The Certified Telecommunications Subject Matter Expert CTSME Certification Package
includes all of these courses at a substantial discount… plus 5 TCO certification exams, all with unlimited repeats.

Check out the CTNS + CVA combo package discount special!

Upgrade your skills – and your résumé – with this training and certification today!

Order CTSME – save $813

CTSME – Certified Telecommunications Subject Matter Expert is 5 certifications in one – CTNS, CVA, CWA, CTA plus CTSME.

Just $1595 when ordered as a bundle.

The most comprehensive telecommunications training and certification available.

Five internationally-recognized telecommunications and network certifications, a total of twenty‑six full‑length high‑quality online courses, TCO Subject Matter Expert certification, with unlimited repeats and no time limits.

Boot Camp IN-PERSON Aug 16-20 – Washington, DC

Have you been waiting for in-person training to start again?

Join us in Washington, DC and reap the benefits of connecting in-person with your instructor and fellow learners while maintaining the appropriate COVID-19 protocols.

If you want to join us in Washington, DC, please let us know as soon as possible and no later than July 22nd.

Teracom’s famous core telecom training for non-engineers, totally updated for the 2020s, with broadband, cloud computing, data centers, 5G, IoT, broadband wireless and much more.

BOOT CAMP is Course 101 and 130 back-to-back to make a whole week, packaged with a discount as Course 111. Career- and productivity-enhancing training, two course books with detailed notes, printed in color, totaling over 600 pages, plus bonus CTNS, CVA and CTA Certification Packages, for only $2495.

In the heart of the nation’s capital, steps from the White House. One block from McPherson Square Metro station, 20 minutes to DCA. Complimentary breakfast and Wi-Fi in Guest Rooms included with sleeping rooms.

Get out of the office, learn more and retain more with five days of the best you can get: live, in-person instructor-led training in a classroom environment.

You may register for only the first three days of BOOT CAMP (Course 101) or for the last two days only (Course 130) as best meets your needs. But with the bundle discount savings of $695 and three certifications, the full 5-day Course 111 BOOT CAMP is a great opportunity.

Which should you get? See our website for more information.

Tutorial – The Last Mile: Copper, Fiber and Wireless

Lesson 7 The Last Mile: Copper, Fiber and Wireless from the new course Introduction to Broadband Converged IP Telecom.
Here’s the full lesson free, in full quality, with our compliments.

This lesson is an introduction to network access technologies, called the “last mile”, the physical connection between the user and the network; the face of the telecom network to users.

We group access technologies by physical medium: copper, fiber and wireless, then survey the main technologies in each area.

Subsequent courses and lessons drill deeper into the technologies. This lesson is part of the introduction.

Copper includes twisted pair loops, LAN cables and old-fashioned T1s, as well as coaxial cable CATV infrastructure.

Fiber means Optical Ethernet, shared links for residences via Passive Optical Networks and dedicated links for businesses.

Wireless includes 4G LTE and 5G, used for both fixed and mobile applications, and satellites.

Two Free Bonus Courses with CTA

On top of the sixteen courses included in the CTA Certification Package,
Course L2241 Introduction to Broadband Converged IP Telecom, and
Course L2221 Introduction to Voice over IP
are now included as free bonus courses with CTA.

Follow these instructions to add the two bonus courses to your dashboard at no charge after purchasing CTA.

Cheers!

Boot Camp IN-PERSON Aug 16-20 – Washington, DC

Do you prefer in-person training to online training?
Are you ready to get back to in-person training?
We’re ready if you are.
Join us Aug 16-20 in Washington, DC for Boot Camp, Course 101 or Course 130.

Teracom’s famous core telecom training for non-engineers, totally updated for the 2020s, with broadband, cloud computing, data centers, 5G, IoT, broadband wireless and much more.

Get out of the office, learn more and retain more with five days of the best you can get: live, in-person instructor-led training in a classroom environment.

BOOT CAMP: Live Online Aug 23-27

Teracom’s famous core telecom training for non-engineers, totally updated for the 2020s, with broadband, cloud computing, data centers, 5G, IoT, broadband wireless and much more.

BOOT CAMP Live Online continues to be a great success. Join us Aug 23 to bust the buzzwords, demystify the jargon and understand today’s telecommunications technologies, and most importantly, the underlying ideas… and how it all fits together.

You will learn and retain more as part of a live class with a real instructor, where you can ask questions and interact with others.

Thousands of people have benefitted from this training. Join us!

Contact us for a private BOOT CAMP if you have a group!

get more info • register • detailed BOOT CAMP brochure

Here’s a sampling of student evaluations from previous classes:

“Awesome course, really. Just very, very good.”
  – Tim Wilson, Ciena

“Thank you guys so much, this class was amazing! I would take this all over again!”
– Austin Thompson, NHC

“Since I am very new to telecom, this helped me connect the dots, the different layers and terminology. I liked that it followed the printed workbooks very closely so I could read the summaries after the lessons. The instructor was great. He kept it light, added some jokes to keep it entertaining. I liked most when he did drawings with his explanations.”
  – Ashley Brinkman, Marketing Manager, MTA, Palmer Alaska

“The course was very beneficial for me. I wish I would have been able to take this class a few years back when I first started!”
  – Tamara Pepin, CRTC

“I had some of the basics; this class filled gaps and added much more depth. Instructor Richard was open to questions at any time, and revisited topics until we got it. Having the notes in the printed course book to follow along and add to was very helpful. Richard was very passionate about the course material and had great real-life examples.”
– Robert Smieszny, NHC

“Richard is an excellent instructor. He has unmatched knowledge on the subject! He does a fantastic job interacting as if we are physically in a classroom with him!”
– Daniel Herfel, National Institute of Standards and Technology

All you need to join BOOT CAMP Live Online and get this world-famous training is a laptop with a webcam. We’ll ship you the high-quality printed color course books in advance of the BOOT CAMP, and you’ll be part of a class that runs 9 – 5 Monday – Friday.

The best part: BOOT CAMP was totally updated for 2020, with 5G, Cloud Computing, Data Centers, Smart Cities & more, just before the pandemic struck!

This is the most up-to-date telecom-for-non-engineers training that can be found anywhere.

This is truly career-enhancing knowledge.

Teracom BOOT CAMP Live Online is a great opportunity:
• Live interactive group training, guaranteed coronavirus-free!
• You will be part of a class.
• You will be able to see and hear everyone else.
• We’ll ship you the high-quality printed color course books in advance.
• The instructor will keep you focused, so you learn, like any other BOOT CAMP.
• You can ask the instructor questions, like any other BOOT CAMP.
• The class will run on a schedule: 9 – 5 Monday to Friday, with scheduled breaks, like any other BOOT CAMP.
• You get immediate access to three TCO Certification Packages, with their online courses.
• No travel required.
• Anyone worldwide can take BOOT CAMP.
• All you need is a laptop with a webcam.

This is an ideal time to get the training you need!

You’ll get the course materials shipped to you: two printed color books totaling over 500 pages with copies of all graphics and detailed text notes.

You will also get immediate access to the included TCO Certification Packages: CTNS, CTA and CVA and their twenty full-length online courses, with no time limits and unlimited repeats.

You’ll get the full BOOT CAMP as close as you can get without actually being there.

If you are an international participant, this is your opportunity to take BOOT CAMP. No US travel visa required!

Carpe diem!

Student Evaluation from the most recent BOOT CAMP Live Online

Name: Michelle Rose
Organization: tbaytel
Date: June 16, 2021

Instructor’s Knowledge of Subject: Excellent
Instructor’s Presentation: Excellent
Course Materials: Excellent
Live Online Facility (Zoom): Excellent
Overall Rating: Excellent

I work in telecom, mainly with Business wireline services. I’ve worked in the industry for 15 years, however new to the business wireline side of things. I work for a telecom company that sells, telephone, internet, DTV, security, mobility services. SO although some portions of the course were technical, I felt that the overall course was very helpful, providing a history overview as well as covering all sorts of technology.

I liked the size of the group attending (very manageable) , the discussions we had, and found the diversity of those attending widespread. It was nice to hear everyone’s point of view and the backgrounds they come from.

Instructor Richard was comical, and EXTREMELY knowledgeable. I appreciate the fact he was able to “dumb things down” to a level someone like myself could understand. Some portions of the course weren’t directly applicable to me personally but the majority was helpful and I will continue to use the book for reference in the future. I’d love to tap into his brain and steal a bit of the knowledge he has.

Next Boot Camp:
In-Person Washington, DC Aug 16-20
Live Online Aug 23-27

Tutorial – What Modems Do: Carrier Frequencies, Phase Shifts and QAM

Modulation means producing energy that is vibrating at a single pure frequency, called a carrier frequency or subcarrier, and changing aspects of it in discrete steps to represent bits.

The device that performs this function is called a modulator. A demodulator is required at the far end to interpret the carrier frequency and decide what bits it is representing at any given time. Clearly, we want devices to do both functions to implement two-way communications, so they are called modulator/demodulators or modems for short.

One aspect of the carrier than can be changed to represent bits is the volume or amplitude of the carrier: changing the amplitude of the carrier in discrete steps makes changes that represent bits.

Another aspect is the phase of the carrier: when the peak of the cycle is happening, in time, with respect to other carriers. Changing the time of the peak so it happens a bit earlier than others, or making it happen a bit later is making changes to the phase of the carrier that can represent bits (Figure 29).

Combinations of phase and amplitude shifting is called Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM). QAM-64 means 64 possible different combinations of 8 different phases and 8 different amplitudes.

Each combination, also called a symbol or signal, is assigned a number. Binary numbers 6 bits long are required to give binary numbers to each of the 64 combinations.

7.3.2 Communicating Six Bits: Sending One of 64 QAM Signals

To communicate six bits in one fell swoop on a carrier, the transmitter generates electricity vibrating at the carrier frequency with the phase and amplitude corresponding to the combination indicated by the six-bit number.

The electricity is communicated on coaxial cables to Cable modems, on twisted pair to DSL modems, turned into radio by antennas for communication through space, or turned into light for communication in tubes of glass in very high capacity fiber transmission systems.

When the receiver detects energy at that single pure carrier frequency, it measures the phase and amplitude, and once it has decided, spits out the six-bit number of the combination it is hearing, and Bob’s your uncle.

7.3.3 Baud Rate

To get many bits per second, the procedure has to be repeated often!

Repeating it once per second yields 6 bits per second; the combination of phase and amplitude of the carrier is maintained for one second then changed to a different combination representing the next six bits.

The rate at which the procedure is repeated is called the baud rate, signaling rate and symbol rate.

The baud rate, how often a new combination can be applied to the carrier to communicate another 6 bits, is limited by interference called harmonics, where energy gets spread into adjacent frequencies, and interferes with communications on other carriers.

7.3.4 Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)

When there are multiple carriers (called subcarriers) each running a modem, and the baud rate is the same as the subcarrier spacing, the harmonics from all subcarriers cancel out.

Eliminating this source of interference allows successful data transmission in parallel on closely spaced subcarriers.

This is a prime design characteristic of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), used on LTE, 5G, Wi-Fi, cable modems and DSL, and is the sweet spot for baud rate in terms of efficiency.

Source: CTNS Study Guide 2021, Course 2206, Section 7.3

New CTNS Study Guide

The new edition of the CTNS Study Guide is now available!

Available in Hardcover, Softcover and eBook

Incorporating all of the recent major updates to CTNS courses, the Study Guide includes all of the text and the main graphic from every lesson in every CTNS course.

7″ x 10″ • 406 pages
published May 2021
ISBN 9781894887625 (softcover)
ISBN 9781894887656 (hardcover)
ISBN 9781894887632 (eBook)

With a detailed table of contents, full notes, and a summary checklist of important topics for every lesson, many people find their learning experience greatly enhanced with the printed study guide.

The book will also serve as an invaluable day-to-day reference and handbook going forward.

Eight in one!

The CTNS Study Guide is the textbook for:
2241 Introduction to Broadband Converged IP Telecom
2206 Wireless Telecommunications
2221 Fundamentals of Voice over IP
2201 The PSTN
2212 OSI Layers and Protocol Stacks
2211 LANs, VLANs, Wireless and Optical Ethernet
2213 IP Addresses, Packets and Routers
2214 MPLS and Carrier Networks

Get your CTNS Study Guide Today!

The internationally-recognized TCO CTNS Certification represents the core telecommunications network knowledge required by everyone serious in the telecom world today.

Learn more about CTNS