Fixed-line network

Although there is no completely uniform definition of a fixed-line network, the term typically refers to all of the wired networks that are used for voice and data communications. A fixed-line can be seen as a connection to an end customer, by means of a cable, through which a user can make phone calls or connect to the Internet. Fixed-lines are clearly separate from the mobile phone network, by which end users are connected to the network via wireless transmission technologies.

The fixed-line network can be divided into the core network and the access network. While the access network has an almost blanket coverage of copper paired wires that ensures many individual terminals are connected to the next node, core network lines predominantly have a high bandwidth for connecting switching computers to each other. Here copper cables and fibre optics are used as well as wireless radio technologies. Modern access networks are, in addition to copper wires, increasingly using fibre optic lines.