Commercialization of the telephone began shortly after its invention, with instruments operated in pairs for private use between two locations. Users who wanted to communicate with … See more

The task of building the networks and selling services to customers fell to the network operators. The first company to be incorporated to provide PSTN services was the Bell Telephone Company in the United States.
In some countries, … See more

In most countries, the government has a regulatory agency dedicated to provisioning of PSTN services. The agency regulate technical standards, legal requirements, and … See more

• List of country calling codes
• Managed facilities-based voice network
• Phreaking
• Plain old telephone service (POTS)
• Via Net Loss See more

Network topology
The architecture of the PSTN evolved over time to support an increasing number of subscribers, call volume, destinations, features, and technologies. The principles developed in North America and in Europe were adopted by … See more

In the United Kingdom, the copper POTS and ISDN-based PSTN is being retired in favour of SIP telephony, with a completion date of December 2025. See United Kingdom PSTN … See more