The traditional telephone system is an example of a ________ network.

Question

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

Circuit switching establishes a dedicated communication path between two endpoints for the duration of a call, so the traditional telephone system is a circuit-switched network.

1. Relevant knowledge points and concepts
- Circuit switching: a permanent or reserved end-to-end physical or logical channel is created before data flows; resources (bandwidth) are reserved for the call’s duration.
- Packet switching: data is split into packets and routed independently; no dedicated path is reserved.
- PSTN and TDM: the public switched telephone network (PSTN) uses circuit switching and time-division multiplexing (TDM) on trunks to carry voice channels.

2. Step-by-step reasoning process
- When a telephone call is initiated on the traditional phone network, signaling between switches establishes a continuous path from caller to callee.
- Switches along the path reserve a voice channel (an exchange time slot or trunk circuit).
- The dedicated path remains reserved and exclusive until the call is terminated and the circuit is released.

3. Intermediate steps / illustrative details
- Call setup: signaling messages traverse exchanges to allocate switching fabric and a timeslot on each trunk (no data is yet flowing).
- During the call: voice samples flow continuously over the reserved circuit; even during silence, the channel remains occupied.
- Call teardown: a disconnect frees the reserved resources for other calls.

4. Why the correct answer is correct
- The defining characteristic of the traditional PSTN—reserved end-to-end channels for the entire call—matches the definition of circuit-switched networks. This is why “circuit-switched” is the correct option.

5. Why other options are incorrect
- Packet-switched: modern data networks (e.g., the Internet) use packets, not reserved circuits; voice over IP is packet-switched, but classic telephone is not.
- Peer-to-peer: describes an application architecture (equal nodes), not the switching method used by PSTN.
- Wireless: describes a physical medium/type of link, not the switching technique; wireless systems can be circuit- or packet-switched.
- Client/server: an application-layer architecture, irrelevant to how the telephone network reserves connection resources.

6. Conclusion
The traditional telephone system is a circuit-switched network; this matches the provided correct answer: circuit-switched.

The traditional telephone system is an example of a ________ network. Single choice

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