An intercontinental call from the United States to the United Kingdom travels through the sky or under the ocean. Telephone signals pass from the caller's home phone to one or more local telephone offices called <I>local exchange carriers,</I> which pass the signals to a <I>long-distance carrier.</I> This office directs the call in one of two ways. In one method, the signals go to a <I>ground station,</I> which beams them to a communications satellite. The satellite relays the signals to a British ground station. In the other transmission method, the long-distance carrier routes the signals to a fiber-optic cable that runs beneath the Atlantic Ocean. With both methods, the signals reach a British long-distance carrier. The call then passes through one or more local exchange carriers and finally reaches its intended destination.
<BR><P>
World Book diagram by Rolin Graphics</P>
</BODY></P>
<!-- <PT>YES -->
<!-- <AR>From The World Book Multimedia Encyclopedia (TM) (c) «date» World Book, Inc., 525 W. Monroe, Chicago, IL 60661. All rights reserved. -->
