How does a fiber optic cable work?

Over the last 20 years or so, fiber optic lines have taken over and transformed the long distance telephone industry. Optical fibers are also a huge part of making the Internet available around the world.

How does a long-distance call work?

When you make a long-distance call, there is an amazing amount of technology working to make your call happen. To understand the computerized systems used today, it's helpful to go back in time and look at how long-distance calls were first routed.

How does Caller ID work?

How does caller ID work on a telephone? It turns out that the process of making the caller ID display possible is remarkably simple at your end of the line.

How Fiber Optics Work

Fiber-optic lines have revolutionized long-distance phone calls, cable TV and the Internet. It’s a really cool technology that enables the long-distance transmission of data in light signals, and it’s probably used in more ways than you think. Find out what "fiber optics" are and how they transmit light waves.

How Phone-line Networking Works

If your computers are in different rooms, phone-line networking may be a good way to connect them. Learn all about the pros and cons of using a phone-line network.

How Universal Translators Will Work

A wearable device that will translate English into a dozen languages will be introduced later this year. See how it will work!

How VDSL Works

If you've been holding your breath for the next best thing in Internet connections, get ready to exhale. VDSL has five times the speed of regular broadband.

Skype vs. Vonage

Currently, there are several VoIP services on the market -- the two most well-known ones are Skype and Vonage. Although they both use VoIP technology, they're quite actually quite different from each another.

What do digits in phone numbers mean?

The phone number you dial to call somebody is basically an address, similar to the street address of your home. The length of the telephone number varies, though, depending on the country you are calling.

What do the little boxes that the phone company has around our neighborhood do?

If you have underground phone wiring in your neighborhood, rather than pole wiring, you will frequently see these little boxes all over your neighborhood -- one for every two or three houses or so.

Why does the phone still work when the electricity goes out?

One of the relative miracles of modern times is the reliability of the phone system. The power goes out fairly often for most people, but your telephone is always working (as long as you pay the bill). Why is that?

Why is the keypad arrangement different for a telephone and a calculator?

It's one of those seemingly-unexplainable lapses in logic -- Why do these two digit-based devices order their number keys in exactly opposite ways?