T1 E1

A T1 carrier is a dedicated phone connection supporting data rates of

1.544Mbits per second. A T-1 line actually consists of 24 individual channels, each
of which supports 64Kbits per second. Each 64Kbit/second channel can be
configured to carry voice or data traffic. Most telephone companies allow you to
buy just some of these individual channels, known as fractional T-1 access.

T-1 lines are a popular leased line option for businesses connecting to the
Internet and for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) connecting to the Internet
backbone. The Internet backbone itself consists of faster T-3 connections. T-1
lines are sometimes referred to as DS1 lines.

When someone says they are running T1, they may be saying several different
things: They may mean that they have a network that is passing data at 1.544
Mbps; they may mean that they have a network that conforms to the T1 electrical
interface specification (DSX-1), or that they have a network that passes data that
conforms to one of the several framing formats (D4, ESF, etc.). More likely than
not, they mean all three but their concentration may be on only one of these item

Similar to the North American T-1, E1 is the European format for digital
transmission. E1 carries signals at 2 Mbps (32 channels at 64Kbps, with 2
channels reserved for signaling and controlling), versus the T1, which carries
signals at 1.544 Mbps (24 channels at 64Kbps). E1 and T1 lines may be
interconnected for international use.

Extend T1 over CAT 5

T1
The most common legacy of this whole system is the line rate designations. A "T1"
now seems to mean any data circuit that runs at the original 1.544 Mbit/s line rate.
Originally the T1 format carried 24 pulse-code modulated, time-division multiplexed
speech signals each encoded in 64 kbit/s streams, leaving 8 kbit/s of framing
information which facilitates the synchronization and demultiplexing at the receiver.
T2 and T3 circuit channels carry multiple T1 channels multiplexed, resulting in
transmission rates of up to 44.736 Mbit/s.

Supposedly, the 1.544 Mbit/s rate was chosen because tests done by AT&T Long
Lines in Chicago were conducted underground. To accommodate loading coils, cable
vault manholes were physically 6600 feet apart, and so the optimum rate was chosen
empirically--the capacity was increased until the failure rate was unacceptable, then
reduced. Companding allowed acceptable audio performance with only seven bits per
sample.

A more common understanding of how the rate of 1.544 Mbit/s was achieved is as
follows. (This explanation glosses over T1 voice communications, and deals mainly
with the numbers involved.) Given that the highest frequency at which voice
communications occurs is at 4000 Hz, the required digital sampling rate is 8000 Hz
(see Nyquist rate). Since each T1 frame contains 1 byte of voice data for each of the
24 channels, that system needs then 8000 frames per second to maintain those 24
simultaneous voice channels. Because each frame of a T1 is 193 bits in length (24
channels X 8 bits per channel + 1 control bit = 193 bits), 8000 frames per second is
multiplied by 193 bits to yield a transfer rate of 1.544 Mbit/s (8000 X 193 =
1544000).

Notes
Note 1: The designators for T-carrier in the North American digital hierarchy
correspond to the designators for the digital signal (DS) level hierarchy.

Note 2: T-carrier systems were originally designed to transmit digitized voice signals.
Current applications also include digital data transmission.

Note 3: Historically, if an "F" precedes the "T", optical fiber cables are utilized at the
same rates.

Note 4: The North American and Japanese hierarchies are based on multiplexing 24
voice-frequency channels and multiples thereof, whereas the European hierarchy is
based on multiplexing 32 voice-frequency channels and multiples thereof. See table
below.

T-Carrier Systems North American Japanese European (CEPT)

Level zero (Channel
64 kbit/s (DS0) 64 kbit/s 64 kbit/s
data rate)
1.544 Mbit/s (DS1) 2.048 Mbit/s (32
1.544 Mbit/s (24 user
First level (24 user channels) user channels)
channels)
(T1) (E1)
(Intermediate level, 3.152 Mbit/s
- -
US. hierarchy only) (DS1C) (48 Ch.)
6.312 Mbit/s (96
6.312 Mbit/s (DS2) 8.448 Mbit/s (128
Second level Ch.), or 7.786 Mbit/s
(96 Ch.) Ch.) (E2)
(120 Ch.)
44.736 Mbit/s
32.064 Mbit/s (480 34.368 Mbit/s
Third level (DS3) (672 Ch.)
Ch.) (512 Ch.) (E3)
(T3)
274.176 Mbit/s 97.728 Mbit/s (1440 139.264 Mbit/s
Fourth level
(DS4) (4032 Ch.) Ch.) (2048 Ch.) (E4)
400.352 Mbit/s 565.148 Mbit/s (8192 565.148 Mbit/s
Fifth level
(DS5) (5760 Ch.) Ch.) (8192 Ch.) (E5)

Note 1: The DS designations are used in connection with the North American
hierarchy only. Technically a DS1 is the data carried on a T1 circuit, and likewise for
a DS3 and a T3, but the terms are almost always used interchangeably.
Note 2: There are other data rates in use, e.g., military systems that operate at six and
eight times the DS1 rate. At least one manufacturer has a commercial system that
operates at 90 Mbit/s, twice the DS3 rate. New systems, which take advantage of the
high data rates offered by optical communications links, are also deployed or are
under development. Higher data rates are now often achieved by using Synchronous
optical networking, SONET or Synchronous digital hierarchy, SDH.

E1
An E1 link operates over two separate sets of wires, usually coaxial cable. A nominal
2.4 volt signal is encoded with pulses using a method that avoids long periods without
polarity changes. The line data rate is 2.048 Mbit/s (full duplex, i.e. 2.048 Mbit/s
downstream and 2.048 Mbit/s upstream) which is split into 32 time slots, each being
allocated 8 bits in turn. Thus each time slot sends and receives an 8-bit sample 8000
times per second (8 x 8000 x 32 = 2,048,000). This is ideal for voice telephone calls
where the voice is sampled into an 8 bit number at that data rate and reconstructed at
the other end.

A T1/E1 Multiplexer is a T/E carrier network element that uses Time Division
Multiplexing to combine digital input signals into one high-speed output signal. The
T1 multiplexer, based on the US T-carrier spec, has a 1.544 Mbps DS-1 output signal,
while the E1 multiplexer, based on the European E-carrier spec, has a 2.048 Mbps E1
output signal. T1/E1 muxes are typically used to aggregate 64-Kbps digital voice
channels, 24 for T1 and 30 for E1, and in this configuration are called Channel Banks.
Therefore, T1/E1

Multiplexers played a key role in the early stages of the digitalization of the public
telephone networks worldwide.

T1/E1 Multiplexers can also accommodate other types of digital traffic such as data
and video with the installation of line cards. Because of this feature, T1 multiplexers
also gained popularity in its use by enterprise customers to aggregate enterprise
network traffic, interconnect LANs, and gain high-speed access to the Internet.