VoIP Alternative
How would you like to have 672 phone lines at your disposal? 672 is
the number of how individual telephone circuits that can be carried by
the standard DS3 level of service on a fiber optic carrier or T3 coaxial
copper line. Each circuit is a single independent phone line that can
be set up to be any combination of incoming, outgoing, local or long
distance calling. If your organization needs only 100 lines, not the
full 672, a fractional DS3 service would be a good purchase. This allows
you to order only a fraction of the full DS3 service and pay less than
the full price.
An advantage of T1 phone service or T1 PRI service is that it is available just
about anywhere you can get a regular analog phone line. You can then upgrade
by bonding in additional T1 lines to increase line capacity until you get to
the point where DS3 service is more cost effective. Smaller companies that need
only 10 to 24 lines leaving the building can order another standard digital telephone
service called T1 voice. A T1 line running at the DS1 level of service offers
you 24 individual phone lines. You can also get 23 lines plus an extra channel
for full Caller ID information, called a T1 PRI.
VoIP does away with telephone channels. Instead, voice is digitized into packets
that all travel together over a network line. The network needs to have enough
bandwidth to accommodate the largest number of expected simultaneous conversations.
Computer data may be mixed in with the voice packets on the same network. The
voice packets need to be reconverted back to phone "lines" only when
connecting to the Public Switched Telephone Network. Voice quality is assured
by giving each phone conversation its own independent channel. This is also called
TDM or Time Division Multiplexing. An alternative phone service popular within
organizations and between business locations is called VoIP or Voice Over Internet
Protocol.
The services can be used for a large range of businesses including large corporate
centers, customer service organizations, mail order companies, outsourced tech
support, universities, national organizations, political phone banks and call
centers of all types.
Anytime you have several people in a particular location
combined with the critical need for voice
communications, you can put large numbers
of phone lines to good use. The limitation of VoIP telephony is that voice
quality needs to be carefully engineered into the organization's networks
rather than being built-into the TDM telephony lines.
