Sprint Upgrades Phone-Service Network for Customers in Southwest Virginia
Posted on: Tuesday, 22 July 2003, 06:00 CDT
Jul. 22--Virginia Sprint's telephone customers in Independence, Comers Rock and Mouth of Wilson will have access to new services Wednesday because the company is upgrading its network.
Customers will be able to get caller ID, talking call waiting, anonymous call rejection, repeat dial, return call, three-way calling and other add-on services.
These features, which typically come in packages and are already available to other Sprint local-service customers in Virginia, cost extra.
The company, which is the local telephone provider in Grayson County, is installing advanced switches in its network.
The new switches are part of a significant shift. Sprint is converting from a traditional circuit-switched telephone network -- in which a dedicated line is allocated for transmission between two parties -- to a simplified, packet network.
A packet is a chunk of digital information sent over a network.
Packet-switching is the process that allows voice, video and data traffic to be broken down into smaller pieces, or packets, and simultaneously sent across the same path. Sprint said the process allows for a more efficient use of the network.
Each packet contains the address of origin, the address of its destination and information about how the packet will reunite with other related packets.
Sprint said the planned migration of its 8 million lines to a packet system will improve the capability of the company's network to introduce and operate additional products and services.
Sprint is the first major telecommunications carrier to publicly commit to packet-based technology in its local network. The transition comes at a time when voice over Internet protocol -- the ability to make telephone calls and send faxes over IP-based data networks such as the Internet -- has been gaining momentum with businesses and consumers.
Sprint said it's in a better position to tap into the expanding IP-based market than competitors who haven't yet begun the migration to packet-based technology.
Sprint's $1 billion conversion is expected to be completed in about 12 years.
Company spokesman Tom Matthews said customers will not see an increase in their bills as a result of the network conversion.
Sprint also recently launched high-speed Internet access to residents and businesses in Independence, Comers Rock and Mouth of Wilson.
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(c) 2003, The Roanoke Times, Va. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
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