Note: I don't want to start a flamewar. I just want to say that telco protocols are really not much different from what we're used to when we talk IP. It's just different. You have a hard time finding people on the Internet who really know about SS7-protocols or how the whole GPRS-stuff is really working. It'd be a shame to alienate those people just because it's not IP. We don't scare off people using Netbios, or are we? (ok, this might be disputable...;)

@voretaq7 To be honest... the telco-protocols aren't really related to electrical engineering. If I want to connect a call via ITUP I don't care miuch about what resistors are there to pull up the line. These are real protocol running over multiple ISO-layers (and: ISO by design, not by definition, like in IP) and if you ask someone who has to set up a GGSN router, if he cares about the line level encoding of his Gn-interface, he'll just say: "WHAT? It's a friggin' TenGigabitEthernet interface on a Cisco 7600!"

Yes, I read it. "Network routing, switches, and firewalls". OK. It's not specifically related to telecommunication networks. But anyway, I just figured out that meta.SF is not something I'd like to spend too much time into. I just take the chance trying to give useful answers in the case something about telecommunication pops up, taking the risk to be downvoted.

Yes, I did. So, what did I miss then?

I don't see why those kind of questions couldn't be posted to SF as long as no better SE site is available.

OK, I was wondering, because the OP was specifically reffering to the "GSM/EDGE network".

"dinosaur technology"? Why are questions about SS7 and GPRS considered like that? Without those technologies mobile internet wouldn't be possible.

@JohnGardeniers OK, I see. Was a irritated a little :)

While we're on-topic I wonder if anyone can explain why my question was downvoted. Was this sheer group dynamics or was my question posted in the wrong place of SE? What did I miss from the FAQ? Downvoting this because missing something from the FAQ is OK, I just wonder if people bother to state this in comments. At Skeptics.SE they point it out.

Not sure what you mean by "guidance"? For whom? The OP? To tell him "man, you need to sort out your question and make it more specific"?

+1 for the rat's nest, I can see why people upvote this. It's about sheer sympathy :-) And as of downvoting in general, I think you're right. Considering this, I can't make a conclusion if the posting I was referring to in the first place did deserve this. But I think I now understood a little more about how things should be working. Thanks!

Allright, I see. Didn't know that you can see the downvote reason if you hover over the downvote. Thanks for the clarification.