Customer Reviews

Newton's Telecom Dictionary: The Official Dictionary of Telecommunications, Networking, and the Internet (17th Edition)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have the 15th edition and 17th edition of this book and they are both great. I also own the McGraw-Hill telecom dictionary - Here is a quick comparison of my most prized books that I hope shoppers find useful-

Newtons version covers LOTS of terms, with quick simple, sometimes too simple definitions. For acronyms it rules, if it is not here you probably wont find it anywhere. It is very simple, and 99.99% text.

The mcGraw version 3rd edition also has LOTS of terms, but does not include the funny terminology or interest items that Newtons does. What it does have are TONS of pictures-diagrams that help the definitions. The CD included with the book makes it more complete. The only bad thing about the McGraw Hill book is there are some typos....

I dont think I could live without either one of these books. They are very different in style and hard to compare, but both are great. Simply stated, the Newton dictionary is more QUANTITY oriented and has more terms, the McGraw-Hill dictionary is extremely QUALITY oriented. I would rate them both a 5..... but since the Newtons does not come with a reference CD I had to give it a 4.

This is a Must have book for anyone that works with or wants to know more about Voice and Data. Anyone serious about having a handy reference collection will probably own both this book and the McGraw Hill dictionary.

Can't do without it! Don't get fooled...into buying the 16th or 17th edition as the 18th edition goes to press this month.

One of the best investments I made back in 1987 when I was attending a telecommunications class was purchasing this book (granted version 1). Over the years in my job I have kept this book close to my computer and have referenced countless times. What is amazing is how the communications industry creates acronyms. What is more amazing is how clear the author has made these acronyms clear with concise definitions mixed in with humor. If you're in the computer or telecommunications industry this is your dictionary.

The book has more acronyms than you can shake a stick at, far more than you would ever want to know, but the definitions are of mixed quality and often too chatty to precisely clarify the idea. More length on fewer topics would have made for a more useful book, but so many pages are given over to numbingly obscure material while big subjects get the same couple of paragraphs. On the other hand, it is a dictionary and if you accept it is only a starting point for investigation rather than the book that is really going to explain what you need to know, then it's an occasionally handy reference.

I recently took a beta certification test (web based) from a Telecommunications manufacturer and was able to use the dictionary to flesh out answers that I did not know by heart. Did you know that the European E3 standard is 2.048 Mbps (30B+2D) ?? I remembered reading that somewhere, but Newton's Telecom Dictionary saved me from missing that question. I strongly recommend this for anyone who doesn't have memory like a steel trap.

I have worked in Telecom industry for over 4 years. When I entered this market I knew NOTHING about Telecommunications. I was given the Newton's 7th addition by my mentor. I credit, in part, this book in all its additions to my rapid career growth. Newton's is essential for any training personnel, supervisor or manager in our call center.
As a side note, the humor and laymen's terminology make the book more enjoyable.

I love this book, but it would be more useful if all of the entries weren't capitalized. There are countless cases of dubious capitalization. Take for example the entry "Land Line." To make it worse, it is spelled "Landline" in the definition: "...completed via a Landline." How can you tell whether to capitalize, hyphenate, or separate the words? A minor flaw, perhaps? Not if you're writing or editing. Like my prof used to say, I take off for spelling. Four stars for this otherwise great book, a must for any telecom library.

Now in a completely updated, revised and expanded seventeenth edition, the Newton's Telecom Dictionary continues to be an invaluable dictionary of terms, words, and concepts relevant to telecommunications, networking and the Internet. One particular virtue of this immensely useful reference is Harry Newton's introduction "Where The Telecom, Networking, Fiber, Internet, Web Explosion Is Taking Us". No professional, academic, or community library computer or Internet reference collection can be considered up-to-date without the inclusion of this latest edition of Newton's Telecom Dictionary as a core title.

The Attributes that I dislike about this book far outnumber the ones that I find likeable. It has an extroardinary number of definitions however most of them do nothing more than point out the obvious. The author obviously avoids technical detail. Since I bought this book I have been thrilled everytime I find a definition, but then let down by the lack of detail, and excess of ambiguity. My wish is for Mr. Newton the author, to add more detailed definitions in the next edition. The Encyclopedia of Telecommunications (McGraw Hill)is a richly detailed book, but does not have nearly as many entries as this one. If you can afford it, get them both.

Being that telecom expands with new telephony techniques and bandwith growth every year, the need for a new Dictionary is very much needed. BUT........ terms, phrases and meanings haven't changed just pretty much how these terms relate to each other. Circuit-to-circuit switching in a DMS or 5E has been updated in the past 2 years to circuit-to-packet and now for this year it's packet-to-packet switching (voice over I.P. switching by Sonus) to add even more capabilties over the same circuit. Same old phrases just more confusion for the non-engineer and technician. If you have the 16th edition, check with someone who has this 17. There isn't that much more added, but if this is your 1st purchase of this series of Dictionarys, then of course get the 17th.

Not at all, am I downing this book. Just trying to save money for those who have the 16th.

oNe