:::Network Tip of the week:::What are the different class voice switches?

A Class 5 switch, in United States telephony jargon refers to a telephone switch or exchange located at the local telephone company's central office, directly serving subscribers. Class 5 switch services include basic dial-tone, calling features, and additional digital and data services to subscribers using the local loop. Class 5 switches were slower to convert from circuit switching technologies to time division multiplexing than the other switch classes A Class 5 switch, in United States telephony jargon refers to a telephone switch or exchange located at the local telephone company's central office, directly serving subscribers. Class 5 switch services include basic dial-tone, calling features, and additional digital and data services to subscribers using the local loop. Class 5 switches were slower to convert from circuit switching technologies to time division multiplexing than the other switch classes

In order to organize Direct Distance Dialing (DDD) American Telephone & Telegraph divided the various switches in the U.S. Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) into a hierarchy containing five levels (or classes).
Class 1 exchanges were international gateways - handing off and receiving traffic from outside the USA and Canadian networks.
Class 2 exchanges were tandem exchanges which interconnected whole regions of the AT&T network.
Class 3 exchanges were tandem exchanges connecting major population centres within particular region of the AT&T network.
Class 4 exchanges were tandem exchanges connecting the various areas of a city or towns in a region.
Class 5 exchanges were those to which subscribers and end-users telephone lines would connect.
In modern times only the terms Class 4 and Class 5 are much used, as any tandem office is referred to as a Class 4. This change was prompted in great part by changes in the power of switches and the relative cost of transmission, both of which tended to flatten the switch hierarchy.