Contrast with nethead. This term refers to a communications worker (be they engineer, manager or general operative) who has a background in the technology of traditional telephone networks, and believes in the use of fixed lines and dedicated hardware for the solution of networking problems. The term comes from Bell, the now defunct US telephone giant. Old fashioned telephone networks are circuit-switched, as opposed to the new packet-switched internet. Netheads are usually strongly opposed to bellheads, whose numbers are now diminishing as the internet spreads and packets look set to dominate even voice telephony.