Telephone switch capacity

[m5@dev.tivoli.com (Mike McNally)]

Noah Brodbeck writes:
 > 	Please be aware that the current capacity of the
 > telephone system in the United States (and for that matter,
 > most of the developed world) is only capable of supporting
 > between 15 and 20 percent simultaneous telephone
 > conversations.  If the FBI wishes to set up a system that is
 > capable of monitoring 1% of the total number of lines, that
 > equates to a ability to tap 5%, not 1% of all calls in progress.
 > 

According to an article that was out on the AP newswire (check under
<URL:http://http://www1.trib.com/WIRE/CURRENT/>), the "1%" figure
applies to actual capacity.  In other words, if there's a switch with
50K subscribers but actual capacity for 5K simultaneous calls, the FBI
wants to be able to make 50 simultaneous taps.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| Nobody's going to listen to you if you just | Mike McNally (m5@tivoli.com) |
| stand there and flap your arms like a fish. | Tivoli Systems, Austin TX    |
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