Switching to VoIP

This is the Title of the Book, eMatter Edition

Copyright © 2007 O’Reilly & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.

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Chapter 1: Voice and Data: Two Separate Worlds?

several decades. Its core of a copper loop with an electromagnetic telephone receiver

on one end and a central office switch on the other end hasn’t changed much during

that time. POTS’ stalwart reputation and simplicity have been key reasons for its

longevity.

So why not keep that copper telephone loop forever? POTS works great in low-den-

sity scenarios; that is, places with a small number of simultaneous callers, such as a

one-family home. POTS can also excel where extensive calling features aren’t impor-

tant or where the telephone is rarely used. But when density and features become

more critical, POTS isn’t always the best solution.

Many phone companies offer an enhanced type of analog phone service known as

Centrex to permit more calling features, such as call transfers and call-forwarding.

Since Centrex and POTS lines are owned (and billed) by the phone company, they

can create high reliance upon the phone company. This can be cost-prohibitive and

inconvenient. To solve this problem, organizations on the grow usually choose to

bring their telephony facilities in-house. By facilitating its own calling features, the

enterprise can make telephony less costly and even leverage it as a productivity

enhancer.

Key Systems and PBXs

As the ...