A few techy words explained

ATA

DECT

FXO

FXS

Gateway

H.323

Hardphone

IP Address

IP Phone

PSTN

SIP

Soft Phone

VoIP

 

ATA Analogue Telephone Adaptor.

Similar to a gateway, the ATA is a box which connects your telephone line and pc, allowing you to use your existing telephone to make and receive phone calls over your broadband connection. Back to top

DECT Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications.

These are cordless phones which offer superior speech quality than traditional analogue cordless phones. DECT phones also offer the ability to support multiple handsets, so you can have one phone per room, without having cables running through the house. Back to top

FXO Foreign Exchange Office.

A VoIP gateway with an FXO port allows you to connect to your existing analogue phone system. Back to top

 

FXS Foreign Exchange Service.

A device (gateway) with an FXO port allows you to connect analogue telephone equipment, such as a fax, to your VoIP system. Back to top

 

Gateway

• A networked device which communicates between different systems, such as your phone line (PSTN) and the internet or private network.
• The gateway plugs into the LAN port on your pc, and lets the internet know where you are.
• Your gateway will contain your VoIP number in a format similar to an e-mail address.
• The gateway converts the digital voice (packets) into analogue signals, and vice versa.  Back to top

 

H.323

An early VoIP protocol (think programme), largely dropped in favor of the SIP protocol. Back to top

 

Hard Phone

• A VoIP enabled phone which connects to your local area network via an RJ-45 port.
• A physical telephone, as opposed to the Soft Phone, which is on your pc browser. more...

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IP Address.

A set of numbers used to identify every computer, or networked equipment in the world.

• Clearly, there are not enough numbers available, so most of us have "dynamic" addresses, which are allocated (and changed) every time we log onto the internet.
• Those with static address's can use their VoIP system to dial directly from one pc to another.
• Dynamic users will be assigned a new code / number by their service provider, which can be used anywhere. Back to top

 

IP Phone

Any phone designed to work through your pc and internet connection, usually via a USB port.These are often referred to as USB Handsets, internet phones, Skype phones and a host of other names. They are all the same - the all connect via a USB connection.  more...

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PSTN  Public Switched Telephone Network

The traditional telephone system - think BT landline Back to top

 

SIP Session Initiation Protocol

A protocol (programme) which sets up and maintains your call over the internet. Back to top

 

Soft Phone

Software which is downloaded to your pc, allowing you to make and receive calls via an on screen browser.  If you have a soft phone, you do not need an internet / usb  phone to dial - you use the PC keypad instead. more...

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VoIP  Voice Over Internet Protocol

A network service which converts voice conversation into digital packets for transmission over the internet, or telephone (PSTN) network. Back to top