ElI5 How do telephone wires carry multiple messages at once? How do messages not interrupt each other?

Question

ElI5 How do telephone wires carry multiple messages at once? How do messages not interrupt each other?

In: Technology

Answer 1

Communicating use a pattern called multiplexing to carry multiple digital signals–each one gets an allotted window of time to share data within a given period, usually fractions of a second. For analog signals, they can either use different carrier signals to separate multiple channels, or an old fashioned party line simply shares conversations openly. Most phones today are digital, and randomly generated channel hopping (wireless, usually) and multiplexing keeps conversations separate effectively.