14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Keep looking for "the" one-stop, comprehensive telecom book, November 24, 2001
I am a senior engineer for network security operations. I bought "Voice and Data Communications Handbook, Fourth Edition" (VADCH:4E) to gain a general understanding of communications technologies beyond the LAN. Although the book mentions all of the systems which interested me, I was not satisfied with the manner in which they were covered. VADCH:4E is better than Ross' "Telecommunications Technologies" but inferior to Green's "Irwin Handbook of Telecommunications." Nevertheless, I'm still looking for an author who delivers the goods on voice and data communications essentials.
VADCH:4E's table of contents is sure to impress; it mentions T carriers, VPNs, X.25, Ethernet, Token Ring, FDDI, SMDS, Frame Relay, ISDN, ATM, DSL, SS7, LNP, Cellular/PCS, WAP, 3G Wireless, SONET/SDH, and other key telecom systems and concepts. Unfortunately, I rarely finished a chapter with a good grasp of the material. I desperately searched for clues to questions I felt were key to understanding each technology. Rather than launching into an extended discussion of each system, I would have preferred hearing exactly how each technology works, with comparison to other technologies. More is not better if the "more" isn't helpful!
VADCH:4E is advertised as being "straightforward and jargon-free." This approach supposedly appeals to management types. In reality, the book swings wildly from mind-numbing grade-school-level analogies to material only understood with outside references. A 1074 page book needs to pick a writing style and stay the course. Otherwise, it alienates both nontechnical and technical readers. (Incidentally, technical readers may wonder why the authors believe Windows screen savers contribute to LAN traffic; see page 674 to read this odd claim.)
On a positive note, VADCH:4E consistently offered useful information on the history and business rationale for many telecom systems. Many of the connectivity diagrams were excellent. (These were usually offset by cheesy "clip-art" type graphics elsewhere, unfortunately.) VADCH:4E also includes descriptions of the framing formats for most telecom transmission systems.
Overall, I don't recommend reading a book this large if it doesn't answer the key questions I expect readers to ask. While I'm more familiar with telecom basics after reading VADCH:4E, I still hope another book makes more sense of the telecommunications environment.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good General Information, December 29, 1999
The information was good, but not technical. The section about PBXs discussed cost more then how they work. As a managerial tool, its not bad, but as an engineer, I found it lacking in technical information that I like to have. If you're looking for diagrams and formulas, look for something else.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Everything you need to know about voice and data, September 20, 2000
This review is from: Voice & Data Communications Handbook (Paperback)
While this is a big fat book< almost a thousand pages, and not many pictures> this was a very easy read. Just about everything was covered in the voice and data world, anyone working in either field would have a good history and working knowledge what where we have been where we are and where we are going. The writing style was enjoyable entertaining and funny while keeping to the point, overviews where given followed by description of the technical with applied examples. Even the person makinf discisions on Voice or data issues would be well served to buy the book for the 1st 7 chapters alone, if you work on the engineering side I am sure you will continue to the end of the book. I liked this book so much I ordered his other book on Broadband.
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