<communications> A telephone line leased expressly for the
purpose of connecting two users more-or-less permenantly..
Such lines may be "voice grade" which provides the bandwidth
and signal to noise ratio of ordinary public switched
telephone network circuits, or specified in ways which allow
transport of suitably encoded digital signals at faster rates.
In some cases, lines may be physical wires between the
communicating parties. Over longer distances, it is common
for the connection to be virtual, which means that although
the two users can communicate only with each other, their
signals and others are multiplexed, amplified, switched,
scrambled, demultiplexed and so on in complex ways between the
end points.
This contrasts with a dial-up connection which is only
opened when one end requires it.
(1996-08-10)
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