High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Digital signal 1 (DS1, sometimes DS-1) is a T-carrier signaling scheme devised by Bell Labs. DS1 is a widely used standard in telecommunications in North America and Japan to transmit voice and data between devices. E1 is used in place of T1 outside North America, Japan, and South Korea. Technically, DS1 is the logical bit pattern used over a physical T1 line; however, the terms "DS1" and "T1" are often used interchangeably, although incorrectly.