Unwinding the PSTN

The Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) network has been used for interconnection to the local incumbent offices and tandem switches, for connecting to 911 centers, for connecting to operator services, for connecting to cellular carriers, or for connecting to other neighboring carriers. We are finally starting to see that network being shut down, route by route and piece by piece. But like everything related to operating in the regulated legacy world, it’s not easy to disconnect the PSTN connections called trunks. The big incumbent companies like AT&T, Verizon, CenturyLink, and others will continue to bill for these connections long after they stop being functional. Sadly, the big telephone companies never spent the money to create route redundancy. Folks like me have shouted for decades that there was no way to justify multi-day rural network outages when we know how to solve the problem. These outages are still happening today—and the fibers that carry the PSTN are often the same fiber routes that act as the only broadband backbone route into a rural area.