IP-Telephony Keywords that you need to learn

VoIP, or IP telephony, might be new to many of our resellers. Therefore, we want to share knowledge to help you learn this technology and expand your market opportunities, as the analog PBX industry is expected to be phased out soon.

Here’s a list of essential VoIP (Voice over IP) keywords with brief descriptions for you:

1. SIP (Session Initiation Protocol): A signaling protocol used to initiate, maintain, and terminate VoIP calls. It manages call setup, modification, and teardown.

2. RTP (Real-Time Transport Protocol): Used for delivering audio and video over IP networks, ensuring real-time communication in VoIP systems.

3. SIP Trunking: A method of delivering telephone services and unified communications to an organization's IP PBX using the SIP protocol.

4. PBX (Private Branch Exchange): A private telephone network used within an organization. Users can communicate internally and externally using different communication channels like VoIP.

5. IP-PBX: An upgrade from traditional PBX, this system uses VoIP for internal and external communication, routing calls over data networks.

6. FXO (Foreign Exchange Office): A port that connects a device like a phone or fax machine to an analog line. It converts the analog line into a VoIP signal.

7. FXS (Foreign Exchange Station): A port that delivers analog line (like POTS) to a device such as an analog phone or fax. It converts the VoIP signal into an analog one for use by these devices.

8. VoIP (Voice over IP): Technology that allows you to make voice calls using a broadband internet connection instead of a regular phone line.

9. Codec (Coder-Decoder): A program or device that compresses or decompresses digital media, such as audio. Popular codecs in VoIP include G.711, G.729, and Opus.

10. ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network): An older set of standards for digital transmission of voice and data over telephone networks. It’s still used in some systems for high-quality voice and video transmissions.

11. DID (Direct Inward Dialing): A service provided by telephone companies that allows a company to allocate individual phone numbers to a range of lines, bypassing the need for a human operator or a physical switchboard.

12. Extension: Internal telephone number assigned to a user or device in a PBX system that allows routing of calls within the organization.

13. ATA (Analog Telephone Adapter): A device that converts analog signals from traditional telephones into digital signals that can be transmitted over VoIP networks.

14. QoS (Quality of Service): A technology that prioritizes voice data on a network to ensure high-quality voice communication and avoid delay, jitter, and packet loss.

15. Jitter: Variation in packet arrival time, which can cause voice quality issues in VoIP if not controlled or minimized.

16. NAT (Network Address Translation): A method used by routers to modify IP addresses in packet headers. VoIP systems often require special handling of NAT to ensure proper call signaling and media transfer.

17. Softphone: A software application that allows users to make phone calls over the internet using a computer or mobile device instead of a physical phone.

18. SIP Proxy: A server that handles SIP requests and routes them to the appropriate destination, often used to manage VoIP calls and facilitate connections between devices.

19. DTMF (Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency): The signaling method used to send digits over a phone line (the tones you hear when pressing buttons on a phone). Important in VoIP for call control and IVR systems.

20. IVR (Interactive Voice Response): A telephony menu system that interacts with callers, gathers information, and routes calls to the appropriate recipient.

21. VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network): A technology that segments networks, often used in VoIP systems to separate voice traffic from data traffic to improve performance.

This list will give the new comers a good foundation in VoIP technology, helping them understand key components and protocols in the system.