A VoIP
gateway is a device that can convert telephony traffic into IP for transmission over a data network. There are two ways in which they VoIP gateways are used. One of these ways is to convert incoming PSTN/telephone lines to VoIP/SIP
, which then allows calls to be both received and placed on the regular telephony network. The other way is to connect a traditional PBX (News - Alert)/Phone system to the IP
network, which allows all calls to be made via VOIP.
VoIP gateways are available either as external units or as PCI cards, but the vast majority are usually external units. A VoIP gateway
will have a connector for the IP network and at least one port—sometimes more—to connect the phone line.
There are two different types of VoIP gateways. Firstly, analog units are used to connect regular analog phone lines, and are available for anywhere from 2 to 24 lines. Then there are digital units, which let users connect digital lines to either one or more BRI ISDN
lines, one or more PRI/E1 lines, or one or more T1 lines.
As demand for VoIP gateways has increased drastically over the years, prices have decreased sizeably. Analog gateways often start as low as $200. They can all be purchased online at a wide variety of online shops.
Brian Solomon is a Web Editor for TMCnet, covering news in the IP communications, call center and customer relationship management industries. To see more of his articles, please visit Brian Solomon’s columnist page.
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Voice over IP (VoIP) | X |
A real-time communications system that converts voice into digital packets containing media and signaling data that travel over networks using Internet Protocol....more |
Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) | X |
ISDN BRI is digital transmission using 2B+D or two B channels of 64,000 BPS for voice, data and video services and one D channel of 16,000 BPS for signaling over one-pair of twisted-pair telephone lin...more |
Internet Protocol (IP) | X |
IP stands for Internet Protocol, a data-networking protocol developed throughout the 1980s. It is the established standard protocol for transmitting and receiving data
in packets over the Internet. I...more |
Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) | X |
SIP is the real-time communication protocol for VoIP. SIP is a signaling protocol for Internet conferencing, telephony, presence, events notification (emergency calling) and instant messaging.
SIP...more |
VoIP Gateway | X |
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