I have come across a great white paper that I would like to share with you.  This is a good explanation of the telecom network, how it started, what it is and how it works.  This is not meant to be a technical manual by any means but is meant to give anyone a good understanding of what the network is and how it affects you.

"With the advent of the Internet, email, cell phones, instant messaging, Twitter, Facebook, and many other forms of electronic communication, the term “telecommunications” means something different than it did 30 years ago...." to read more, just click here to get the free white paper.

Hope this helps you to understand more.