How This Book Is Organized

Telecom For Dummies has six parts. Each part is self-contained, but all the content is somewhat interconnected. That way you’ll see the most useful information without a lot of boring repetition.

Part I: The ABCs of Telecom Services

This part explains the landscape of telecom, the key players, and how they work together. I describe the differences in responsibilities between local, long-distance, and wireless carriers. I also include information that introduces the basic telecom features and options.

Part II: Reviewing Telecom Products and Prices

Not every telecom product is right for every customer. Part II reviews the most common telecom products so that you can evaluate which of them are right for your business. This part covers a wide range of services, and helps you analyze whether you should jump from regular (switched) phone service to dedicated phone service. It also gives you the lay of the toll-free land and helps you maneuver through your phone bill, looking for areas that are costing you more money than they should. Stop the bleeding in this part, and figure out which of your potential telecom investments will give you the best return.

Part III: Ordering and Setting Up Telecom Service

The second most painful aspect of telecom is ordering new service (see Part IV for the most painful aspect of telecom). This part guides you through the ordering process for all services, from regular (switched) phone lines to dedicated circuits, to toll-free service. Because dedicated and toll-free services are complicated, I include a chapter in this part that goes the extra mile, showing you how to activate these services after you order them. All along the way, I tell you about potential pitfalls so that you can successfully avoid them.

Part IV: Taking Care of Your Telecom System

The most painful aspect of telecom is troubleshooting problems. The issue afflicting your system may be huge or microscopic, but you still need to fix it. Part IV covers troubleshooting switched phone lines, dedicated phone lines, and toll-free service in a step-by-step manner that enables you to make quick work of almost any problem. By following the rules I set out for you in this part, you can systematically identify problems and keep your technicians from going on a wild goose chase.

Part V: What’s Hot (Or Just Geeky) in the Telecom World

The chapters in Part V cover the world of telecom — beyond voice phone calls. I cover the basics of data transfer technologies, and the hottest buzzword in telecom right now, VoIP. Part V won’t show you how to write the code to transfer the data, but it does give you an overview of the newest and greatest technology, gives you some hints on pricing, and tells you about the hardware required to create a data-transfer interface with your carrier.

Part VI: The Part of Tens

Part VI covers industry buzzwords, personality disorders, and where to go for help. How’s that for a mélange? When you use common acronyms casually when speaking to your carrier reps and technicians, they know that you’re not clueless about telecom. The section on telecom traits provides behavior to look out for and hints on how to avoid it. Finally, the last chapter lists resources to tap into when you are at your wit’s end.

At the end of the Part of Tens is an appendix I tacked on to show you how to make male and female loopback plugs. These little gadgets are simple and small, but they are invaluable to troubleshooting phone systems.