Have you ever been in a discussion with someone from Telecoms and found the person you are listening to seems to be speaking to you in a foreign language?
Well, you are not alone, most people don’t buy telephone systems very often and all the acronyms and jargon we use in our industry can be a put-off in itself, especially when sometimes all you want to know is which is the best telephone system for your business.
The reason for all the confusion is because Phone Systems use sophisticated technology –and terminology- to manage communication streams efficiently. Whilst most of us understand the need for this terminology in the field of telecommunication, it can be very confusing to anyone who is new to the subject.
One of the most common questions users have when first researching telephony options and phone systems advantages are: what does that mean?
That’s why here at Tech IP we thought we would put together this useful quick reference blog for anyone wanting to understand the basic most used jargon as a quick survival guide reference for anyone buying a new telephone system.
If you find it hard to understand the descriptions of phone systems, their components or their features then this basic Survival Guide is for you:
- Trunks or Lines… External phone lines coming into your business phone system. You need to make sure you always have enough.
- ISDN2 or ISDN30… A type of external phone line most commonly used, Integrated Services Digital Network is what ISDN stands for, digital lines provide enhanced functionality.
- PSTN… This is a type of external telephone line also known as an analogue line, generally used for fax, broadband services or alarms. PSTN stands for Public Switched Telephone Network.
- SIP… This stands for Session Initiation Protocol and is a common standard used for the delivery of telephone line services using the Internet as opposed the traditional telephone network.
- Extensions… Internal telephone within your own business. Extensions are not only useful for internal communications but used to answer and transfer calls to, extensions can also be used for fax machines and/or modems.
- Ports… Usually refers to the number of connections that the phone system is capable of having. This combines lines and extensions.
- KSU or CO… The cabinet, also known as the Key System Unit or the Central Office is the main box that contains internal and external routing settings.
- ACD… Automatic Call Distribution a common feature that handles large numbers of incoming calls via scripts or pre-programmed sequences that distribute calls within the network.
- POT or POTS… Acronym for Plain Old Telephone System, the type of network that uses landline connections to transmit sound information.
- PSTN… Public Switched Telephone Network.
- Key Systems… Known as key telephone systems, are the entry-level choice for small business phone systems. Each phone has buttons corresponding to the number of phone lines available.
- VOIP… Stands for Voice Over Internet Protocol, a common and useful phone system type that uses the Internet to transmit sound (your conversations or calls). VoIP Phone Systems use and benefit from traditional office phones, using an internet router and lowering costs when compared to landline calls.
- PBX… Also, Private Branch Exchange are customizable phone systems that differ from “key systems” in that users of key systems manually select their own outgoing lines, while the PBX selects the outgoing line automatically.
- PABX: private automatic branch exchange
- EPABX: electronic private automatic branch exchange
- Hosted PBX: can work with both Public Switched Telephone networks and/or the internet. In addition to all office phone system features, it allows a single number to be presented for your business, regardless of its location even if workers are connected from home with domestic phones.
To find out more about telephone systems and how they could work for you, please give us a call at 0800 50 533 50 and one of our team will be happy to help or send us an enquiry online by clicking here. Alternatively, you can download our telephone systems buyers’ guide as useful reference material or even run a quick quote to obtain a budget cost for a new telephone system in less than 60 seconds by clicking here.
