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VoIP telephony could also be networked through separate office sites on the same telephone system.
Information
Welcome. Plexus intends for this page to give brief overviews of the basics and some of the more complicated aspects of Telephone Systems. It is purely for you to learn more if you wish. It is not intended to be fully comprehensive or 'academic', so it is more a broad brushstroke of knowledge rather than detailed analysis so please take it in this context.If further information is required please feel free to contact us either by email or phone
What are Telephone Systems?
They are just control devices. A Telephone System allows one or many (Multi) telephone lines to come into one place and be controlled by, for example, "Transferring" them to other handsets or extensions, putting them on " Hold " till they can be answered, or Transferring them to an answering machine or a voicemail or even "off-Site" to another location or a mobile. There are many other ways to control the calls.
Most Telephone Systems are basically boxes with a Central Processing Unit (CPU) and Slots in which specific cards are inserted to give the system expansion or special features. For example, a System might have a capacity of 8 Lines and 8 Extensions, if the box is large enough to take another card (i.e. has an empty/spare slot) another card capable of holding 8 more extensions may be inserted and the system could then handle 8 lines and 16 extensions. Or, you may put a Voicemail Card into the slot and have voicemail on your Telephone System.
KTS, often called Key Systems, have in the past been smaller systems with incoming calls usually ringing at several, or all, phones. In PBX systems calls usually go to the receptionist or attendant, who will then tell someone that he or she has a call on a particular line, often using the intercom to call one phone, or by making a paging announcement to several people, or throughout a large area.
With a PBX/PABX, Incoming calls usually go to a receptionist, attendant or Operator, who Transfers the call to the appropriate person. These days, usage and features of Key Systems are very similar to the PBX systems and many features are now common.
ISDN Lines
ISDN Lines, an international communications standard for sending voice and perhaps data over digital telephone lines or normal telephone wires. ISDN allows many services not available on PSTN lines. These lines need to be connected to a Telephone system and cannot, unlike a PSTN line, be connected directly to a handset or a Fax.
These are the two types of ISDN:
- Basic Rate Interface (BRI): two 64-Kbps B-channels and one D-channel for transmitting control information. Basically BRI means they come in twos 2 lines, + 2 lines = Four lines. + 2 lines = Six lines. And, a BRI Card is needed in any Telephone System for the lines to work
- Primary Rate Interface (PRI): Twenty three B-channels and one D-channel, or thirty B-channels and one D-channel (It vaies if you are in USA or Europe ). Basically, PRI means they come in 10s , 10 lines, + 10 lines = Twenty lines. + 10 lines = Thirty lines. And, a PRI Card is needed in any Telephone System for the lines to work.
Voicemail / Answer Machine
The main difference between an Answering Machine and a Voicemail is that a voicemail is a much more sophisticated answering machine. It is like the difference between a whisk and an electric blender. Voicemail allows multiple people to have their own personalized greetings and private voicemail boxes accessed at the same time. An answering machine can only handle one message at a time.Voicemail Sample Features:
- Ability to monitor callers leaving messages in a mailbox and decide whether to let the caller finish leaving their message or take the call.
- Able to undelete messages that have been accidentally deleted.
- A "Private" message is unable to be sent or forwarded to another mailbox.
- Each voicemail box can provide the caller with options to consider: page the person, speak to their assistant, go through to their mobile, etc.
- Voicemail can integrate with CTI packages or be sent from person to person via email.
Auto Attendant
Auto Attendants are NOT Voicemails. Some Systems include the Auto Attendant as part of the voicemail, but most do not. Or, if they do include it, it may a limited featured add-on to the voicemail that needs upgrading for any real functionality. So what is it? Auto Attendant was often referred to as Virtual receptionist some years ago. It is intended to replace or reduce workloads in controlling incoming calls and the stress on busy receptionists. They answer the call and can give people a "Comfort Message " and place them on Hold till staff can answer the call. Or, they can be used to "Stream" calls into various areas able to deal with the call."Press 1 for ., Press 2 for.", etc. Not the panacea for the problems of busy switchboard they were once hoped to be. It has been noted that many customers do not like to be put through 7 levels of questions only to end up where they began. These days companies use them carefully and have extremely good results but they must be well planned.What are advanced features?
Computer Telephony Integration
Short for Computer-Telephony-Integration (CTI) uses the power of computers along with the Telephone System to control phone functions like making and receiving voice, fax, and data calls. The computer is able to route calls, and gather information about the calls enabling things like on-screen telephone directory services and caller identification. CTI has become a sophisticated product handling all sorts of incoming and outgoing communications, including phone calls, faxes, and Internet messages, etc. This integration of Telephone Systems and Computer Systems is a major leap in the development of phone call management and thus company productivity.Automatic Carrier Routing
Allows Telephone Calls to be routed through the specific Call Carriers that you select so that you can minimize your Telephone Call charges.Automatic Call Distribution
provides efficient distribution of incoming calls to your staff. Monitor Call Centre Operation and efficiency using the detailed Management Information System (MIS)What are the many terms in Telephony?
Like most professions there are many terms in the Telephony industry, many of these terms have specific meanings that can cause some confusion when in discussion with the general public who, quite fairly, have a different definition in mind. For example, frequent confusion is caused by the terms "Line", "Trunks" and "Extensions". So, to try and make your life a little easier here is a list of terms as the telephone technician understands them.
Line
Line is the actual telephone connection. In simple terms if you have 4 PSTN lines you have four numbers, and four people can make or receive calls at the same time. (for more detail see 'Lines")Direct Line
A direct line does not normally go through the telephone system. A direct line is one which when the number is called it goes directly to the Handset/phone or devise that will answer it, NOT through the switch. It also does NOT refer to the main or Prime number of a company. A direct line may be a number that goes directly to the director of a company (and is usually not advertised) or go directly to a fax machine (in which case it may be advertised). It is sometimes confused with Direct-in-dial (DID).Direct in-dial (DID)
Direct in-dial is an ISDN line function. While you may only have two, or four, or twenty ISDN lines, because they are digital lines many, many phone numbers can be attached to those lines (usually in batches of 100). So, you can have, for example, 6 ISDN lines with 50 staff and 50 handsets; and each of the staff can have their own Direct-in-dial phone number which goes 'directly' to their handset not through reception. These DID's can be transferred and picked up by other handsets on the system if required. You still can have your Prime number answered by reception.Rotary
Rotary is a feature letting a caller when dialing a busy phone number, to automatically connect through another number. It might also be called Line Hunt , Line Hunting, ISG (Incoming Service Group) or Call Forward On Busy . Basically one, two, three, four (and so on) telephone lines are "tied" to a main ( Prime ) number. E.g. the Prime number is 9999 1111 (with 9999 2222 & 9999 3333 in rotary - "tied" to 9999 1111) a customer calls on the 9999 1111 number - without rotary if another customer called the 9999 1111 number they would get an engaged signal. With rotary on this number the call is routed through the 9999 2222 line and rings at your office without the customer knowing. Thus you can advertise one number and have many people call at the same time.Lines
Refers to the number of Telephony connections you have through to the outside world. If you have two lines then you can have up to two calls inbound or outbound at a time (concurrently). If you have 10 lines then you can have up to ten inbound or outbound call at a time (concurrently). This term is frequently confused with Extensions by those not in the industry.Extension
Usually a handset (a phone). It is called an extension in the industry because occasionally some other devise like a door lock release, a fax machine, or a cordless phone, is connected to the phone system and they are then extensions too.Handset
A telephoneLCD / Display
Liquid Crystal Display usually on the top of a handset (if provided) giving information such as time and date, length of call. It might also provide context sensitive information and provide options for you to take when making calls, or give you access to features such as a speed dial list.Networking
The linking of a number of devices, such as computers, workstations, printers, and AV gear into a network (system) for the purpose of sharing resources.VoIP telephony could also be networked through separate office sites on the same telephone system.
VoIP
VOIP: Voice over Internet Protocol - An independent page exists on this site to explain this concept in more detail click VoIP to access this page.Softphone
Using a virtual handset on your laptop or desktop in conjunction with a speaker/microphone/headset you can make and receive phonecalls. Usually looks like a picture of a handset keypad on your computer screen. In this case and different to many Internet phones is that the softphone is actually connected to your phone system. It is just another extension and as such is able to make and receive calls in the same manner as the one on the desk in the office. It also has access to all the features of those phones in the office - voicemail, etc.Prime (number)
In Telephony Talk the prime number is the main number used to contact a company. Usually it is the advertised phone number. It may be only one line, or may have several lines in rotary . To us it has nothing to do with the field of Mathematics.Expansion Cabinet
Expansion Cabinet - (two cabinet three cabinet Double/Triple Cabinet System) Most Telephone Systems are basically boxes with a Central Processing Unit (CPU) and Slots in which specific cards are inserted to give the system expansion or special features. For example, a System might have a capacity of 8 Lines and 8 Extensions , if the box is large enough to take another card (i.e. has an empty/spare slot) another card capable of holding 8 more extensions may be inserted and the system could then handle 8 lines and 16 extensions. However if there is not another slot in which to place a card for some systems it is possible to connect a second cabinet (or more) and have more slots available to expand the capability of the Telephone System.Integrated
Refers to two or more components merged together into a single system, e.g. an "integrated voicemail", or "integrated DECT ". Usually it means designed by the manufacturer of the Telephone SystemDECT
Cordless Technology is becoming a fertile field for misunderstanding, especially as many cordless phones advertise themselves as being digital (which technically they are) when to the Telephone Technician they are analogue. A standard cordless phone you might buy in a shop encodes sound into a digital signal to communicate with its base station and thus is digital. However, to communicate with the Telephone System (from the base station to the Telephone System) they use an analogue signal. So, to the Telephone Technician these cordless phones are analogue, because that is how the system has to communicate to them. The Telephone technician usually calls these "cordless phones" with "DECT" being a little different. DECT Telephones connected to Telephone Systems use all digital signals from the handset to the base and the base to the Telephone System. What advantage is this? This allows for many of the features you get on handsets to also be available on the DECT phone, e.g. transferring of calls, access to System dialing lists, Caller Identification, etc.3rd Party
In Telephony speak refers to items that may be attached to a Telephone System that are not made by the Manufacturer of the phone system. Examples of these are 3 rd party voicemails, 3 rd party software - Call accounting packages, etc.
