BOOT CAMP: Get The Training You Need

In-Person January 17-21, Live Online January 24-28

Relatively new to telecom? Frustrated with all the jargon and buzzwords? Grab this opportunity to get the training you need!

Join thousands of satisfied non-engineering professionals! Bust the buzzwords, demystify the jargon and understand today’s converged broadband IP telecommunications, the technologies and services, the underlying ideas, and how it all fits together.

Stay focused, engaged and learn with a professional instructor.

Eliminate lack-of-knowledge embarrassment. Be more confident with a solid base of telecommunications knowledge you can build on, from fundamentals to IoT and everything between.

Specifically designed for non-engineers, Teracom’s renowned telecommunications training is organized into two courses back-to-back to make a full week called BOOT CAMP:
Course 101: Broadband, Telecom, Datacom and Networking for Non-Engineers, then
Course 130: Voice over IP, SIP, Security, 5G and IoT.

  • Some people, needing a comprehensive base in telecom, attend only the core training Course 101 the first three days, and get the included CTNS Certification.
  • Others, who already have a base, attend Course 130 the last two days for VoIP, the Security module, 5G and IoT with examples like Smart Cities, and get the included CVA Certification.
  • Most people attend all five days, designated as Course 111 BOOT CAMP, to get the most comprehensive and highest quality telecommunications training available, at a discounted price, with three TCO Certifications included: CTNS, CVA and the prestigious TCO CTA Certification.

Register for BOOT CAMP

More information on BOOT CAMP

Printable BOOT CAMP brochure

This is an easy sell with management.  Your increase in productivity and accuracy will over time far outweigh the cost of a week’s training.  Plus, you get bonus online courses and certification, and high quality printed course books.

Here’s a cut-and-paste training request template to submit for approval.

Here’s a sampling of student evaluations from recent 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

TCO CTNS Certification: Certified Telecommunications Network Specialist

The core knowledge needed in telecom today, with eight courses covering all major topics – plus TCO Certification to prove it!

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

Bust the buzzwords, demystify the jargon, understand the fundamental concepts, technologies and standard practices … and most importantly, the underlying ideas, and how it all fits together.

The eight full-length courses in the CTNS Certification Package cover all major areas of telecom, datacom and networking.

You will start by getting up to speed on all major topics with the new 2021 course Introduction to Broadband Converged IP Telecom plus fully up-to-date courses on Cellular and Wi-Fi,  VoIP and SIP, the PSTN, OSI Layers, LANs and Optical Ethernet, IP and MPLS.

For an individual, this knowledge and preparation makes you an ideal candidate to hire or promote to a task, as you will be able to build on your knowledge base to quickly get up to speed and work on a particular project – then have the versatility to work on subsequent projects.

For an employer, CTNS is an extremely cost-effective way of getting team members and new hires up to a common speed with a common vocabulary and reference. The myTeracom Learning Management System can generate team progress reports.  A discount of 40% is available for 5 seats or more.

This investment will be repaid many times over in the future in terms of lowered buzzword frustration and higher accuracy and productivity.  Get started today!

The coursework for CTNS is a set of eight high-quality online multimedia courses. The content outline for each course is below. Click on the course name or scroll down for detailed descriptions, what you will learn, and free lessons.

newCourse 2241: Introduction to Broadband Converged IP Telecom
• Specifically designed for non-engineers
• Introduction and first pass through all aspects of today’s telecom
• Convergence • Broadband • Network Core and Edge • Protocols
• Last Mile Copper, Fiber and Wireless • Network Equipment
• Residential, Business and Wholesale Services • Carrier Connections

Course 2206: Wireless Telecommunications
• Mobile network, radio and cellular fundamentals
• Phone calls and mobile Internet over cellular
• 4G LTE, OFDMA, 5G new spectrum, new applications
• Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi security, and satellite communications

Course 2221: Fundamentals of Voice over IP
• The Big Picture. VoIP Phones and Terminals
• Voice in IP Packets. Soft Switches / SIP Servers / Call Managers
• Media Servers, Gateways, LAN and WAN, SIP Trunking, Standards
• Where All of This is Headed: Broadband IP Dial Tone

Course 2201: The PSTN
• Required knowledge while there remains a large installed base
• Loops and trunks, analog, the voiceband
• LECs, CLECs and IXCs. POTS and SS7

Course 2212: OSI Layers and Protocol Stacks
• Protocols and standards. The OSI Model
• Layers: Layer 2 vs. Layer 3. Examples
• Protocol stacks. How protocol stacks work

Course 2211: LANs, VLANs, Wireless and Optical Ethernet
• LAN fundamentals. Ethernet and 802 standards
• MAC addresses and MAC frames
• LAN switches, broadcast domains and VLANs
• Ethernet on twisted pair (Cat 5e/6 cables), radio (Wi-Fi) and fiber (Optical Ethernet)

Course 2213: IP Networks, Routers and Addresses
• Packet network fundamentals. Routers
• IP packets and IP addresses
• Static & dynamic, public & private addresses
• Network Address Translation (NAT). IPv6.

Course 2214: MPLS and Carrier Networks
• Carrier network basics. Customer Edge (CE) device
• Service Level Agreements and CoS
• MPLS for traffic management, VPNs, integrated access
• MPLS Services vs. Internet service

Invest in yourself with the CTNS Certification Package!

Eight CTNS courses plus TCO Certification, giving you a solid foundation in telecom, datacom and networking, from modern IP telecom, wireless, VoIP and PSTN to Ethernet, IP networking and MPLS.

Plus, get your Telecommunications Certification Organization (TCO) Certified Telecommunications Network Specialist (CTNS) Certification to prove it!

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

The CTNS Certification Package Unlimited Plan includes the eight CTNS Courses and CTNS Certification Exam, both with unlimited repeats – which means guaranteed to pass if you’re willing to do the work, and refresh your knowledge anytime.

Optional printed or eBook study guide available.

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

Digitally-Signed Email: Authentication and Digital Signatures

E-mail was one of the first “killer apps” on the Internet, and has been a major contributor to increases in productivity over the past ten years. Of course, along with email came the scourge of spam. Criminals infect computers with trojan horse programs, creating collections of machines they control remotely to send millions of unsolicited offers for fake watches, pirated software, phony medications and ecard invitations to infect your computer.

As spam reaches 30, 40 or even 100 unwanted messages per day on a targeted account, it is becoming essential to automatically separate legitimate messages from spam. One tool available to senders of legitimate emails to aid the recipient in this process is to digitally sign their messages, allowing the recipient to establish a level of comfort that the message actually came from the indicated sender.

Continue reading “Digitally-Signed Email: Authentication and Digital Signatures”