A telecommunication network is a set of media, technologies, protocols and facilities in general, necessary for the exchange of information and files between users of a network. The network is a structure, which, for its study, is usually divided into the following components:

The following are examples of telecommunications networks:.

Messages are generated by a sending terminal. They are then transmitted through the network of links and nodes until they reach the destination terminal. It is the job of the intermediate nodes to manage the messages and send the correct link to their final destination.

These messages consist of control (or signaling) sections&action=edit&redlink=1 "Signalling (telecommunications) (not yet drafted)") and bearer sections that can be sent together or separately. The bearer part is the actual content that the user wants to transmit (for example, some encrypted speech, or an email), while the control part instructs the nodes about where and possibly how it has to be sent over the network. A large number of protocols have been developed over the years to specify how each type of telecommunications network should handle control messages and bearer messages to achieve this efficiently.

All classifications of components of telecommunications channels, computers, and software for telecommunications control are:.

The first networks were built without computers, but by the end of the century their switching centers were computerized or the networks were replaced with computer networks.

In general, all telecommunications networks conceptually consist of three parts or planes.

Data networking is widely used around the world to connect individuals and organizations. Data networks can be connected to allow users glitch-free access to sources hosted outside of the particular provider to which they are connected. The Internet is the best example of many data networks from different organizations, all operating under a single address space.").

Terminals joined to TCP/IP networks are addressed using IP addresses. There are different types of IP addresses, but the most common is IPv4. Each unique address is made up of 4 integers between 0 and 255, usually separated by periods when written, for example, 82.131.34.56.

TCP/IP are the fundamental protocols that provide control and delivery of messages over the data network. There are many different network structures through which TCP/IP can be used to route messages efficiently, for example:

These are the three characteristics that differentiate MAN networks from LANs or WANs: