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central office
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telephone exchange
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central office

telephone communications
Also known as: end office, local office, telephone exchange
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telephone exchange
telephone exchange Telephone exchange, late 19th century.

A telephone exchange, also known as a central office, is a facility where telephone lines are connected to enable conversations. When a subscriber makes a call, they signal the central office, which then provides a dial tone. The central office stores the dialed number, determines the equipment location, and checks if the line is busy. If the call is within the same central office (intraoffice), it handles the entire process. For calls to other central offices (interoffice), the call is routed through a long-distance network. Telephone systems comprise switching, signaling, and transmission components. Modern systems utilize electronic switching, which employs transistors and memory devices for greater capacity and new features, replacing older electromechanical switches.12345

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6 Britannica Sources
  1. telephone exchange
  2. telephone - The switching network
  3. telephone - Out-of-band signaling
  4. railroad - Interlocking and routing
  5. telephone - Problems of interference and attenuation
  6. telephone - Electronic switching

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