from
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (8 July 2008)
E-carrier system
<communications> A series of {digital} transmission formats
promulgated by the {ITU} and used outside of North America and
Japan.
The basic unit of the E-carrier system is the {DS0}, which has
a transmission rate of 64 Kbps, and is commonly used for one
{voice circuit}. The {E1} format consists of 32 DS0 channels,
for a total capacity of 2.048 Mbps. {E2}, {E3}, {E4}, and
{E5} circuits carry multiple E1 channels multiplexed,
resulting in transmission rates of up to 565.148 Mbps.
The E-carrier system is similar to, and compatible with, the
{T-carrier system} used in North America, but has higher
capacity since it uses {out-of-band signaling} in contrast to
the {in-band signaling} or {bit-robbing} used in the T-system.
(2000-03-10)