Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Telephone Plug Adapters
There are no worldwide standard for telephone jacks. The North American RJ-11 pattern is used in over 100 countries through-out the world and if you are traveling to China, Greece or Vietnam, you will have no trouble plugging in your laptop modem, where-as, you will find that plugging-in is impossible without the proper telephone jack adapter, if you should be traveling to Sweden, Hungary and almost 40 other countries.
Complete selection of telephone jack adapters are now being offered by retailers, compatible to your laptop and modem, for your worldwide travel. There are duplex adapters, which will allow both the hotel's telephone and your modem to be plugged in simultaneously. This is quite an advantage, for it allows you to check the line quality and establish a connection without unplugging your modem.
In certain cases, you may find that the nationality of the hotel chain determines the type of telephone plugs used in that hotel rather than the country standard. This is a frequent occurrence with large US, British and German hotel chains. It is advisable that each time you plan to go abroad you should check this with your travel agent in order to make sure that you will be able to operate your computer system in the country that you are visiting or have the right telephone adapter with you. There are instances where the telephone in the hotel room is totally 'hardwired,' that is to say that the telephones installed in the rooms are without a jack. In this case there are three ways that you can solve your plugging in problem - first, you may use bare wire with alligator clips, wired to a RJ-11 line to create a connection, second, you can use a acoustic coupler that attaches the modem to the handset, or, if the telephone system in the room is digital, the handset should have a jack and, using a digital interface you can achieve the connectivity.
The other thing that you will need to check with your travel agent is whether the telephone system, in the hotel where you are booked in, is analog or digital. This is for the reason, that modems generally work with analog telephone systems, and for digital systems, you would need special adapters for your modem to work. The digital telephone system can be easily identified by the presence of a visual display, a data socket on the side, or additional buttons for such things as television channels and laundry and other services. Any attempt to plug in your modem with a digital phone may permanently damage the modem and render the digital phone in-operable. In order that you may operate your modem with the digital phone, you will need two things - one, an acoustic couplet that goes on to attach your modem to the telephone handset or a digital interface that connects your modem to the telephone handset jack. The equipment is driven by electrical power and hence you will need appropriate power supply along with, for these to operate.
The most common analog adapter has atleast one telephone jack (FXS port) for connecting a conventional telephone and an Ethernet jack, which you can use to connect to your LAN port in your laptop. Using an Analog Telephone Adapter (ATA), you may very well connect a conventional telephone to a remote VoIP server. Using various VoIP protocols, you may have your ATA communicating with the remote server, encoding and decoding the voice signal by using a voice codec such as ulaw, alaw, gsm, ILBC and others.
What is VoIP? VoIP stands for Voice over Internet. You use your internet service for perhaps a monthly fee as a subscription to your internet service provider. You can send and receive as much data as you want on this service without paying any additional fee, especially when you have signed for a plan for unlimited use. This is not the case with your regular telephone, where you not only pay a monthly rental for each line that you have installed, you also pay for the calls that you make. Therefore, your telephone bill depends on your actual usage and your rental or rentals. With VoIP, you can send voice over the internet service that you are using. This voice is first converted into digital data and transmitted over the internet. By deploying suitable adapters, as discussed above, you can make calls over the internet which comes free to you.
ATA is a device that connects a standard telephone to a network or a computer system so that you can make telephone calls over the internet. Internet based calls, especially long distant calls are substantially cheaper than the regular calls. Further, ATA is much more cost effective than the specialised VoIP phones that connect directly to the Universal Serial Bus (USB) input of your laptop or computer system.
Most of the telephone jacks such as, RJ-11, usually comes with four conductors and may also be available with six. It is likely that this jack is used in your household or office phones. These phones are plugged into by ordinary wire which is not twisted, sometimes known as "gray satin" or "flat wire." The jack connects your telephone to the telephone company central office or to your private branch exchange (PBX) system by longer wires known as twisted pair.
There are several types of telephone adapters available for your required application. All of these ATAs provide you with connectivity between the telephone system and your computer or a network, with some of these performing analog to digital converstions and connects you to VoIP server, while others use software to do one or both of the tasks. The simplest one is RJ-11 type, which plugs a telephone and/or a fax machine into the USB connector in your computer, laptop or your handheld system. This type of ATA generally works in conjunction with software, typically a soft-phone program. The software acts like an interface between the telephone and the VoIP server, for digitizing the voice data so that it can be transmitted digitally over the internet.
In a large corporate setting, ATA has multiple telephone jacks, with an RJ-45 connection to the 10/100BaseT Ethernet hub or switch. This is used to connect to the Local area Network (LAN). Such an ATA, communicate directly with a VoIP server by digitizing voice data and using certain protocols like, H.323 or SIP. In this type of application, the software, as mentioned previously, is not required. Sometimes, the connection between a telephone and a LAN with ATA is referred to as VoIP Gateway.
A digital phone adapter simply lets you add the feature of VoIP capability to one or two of your phones. The adapter lets you attach your digital phone to an internet provider's (IP) network. This concept replaces IP phones, which lets you make calls without any adapters. The broadband phone system is the one where the internet service provider, provides you with the facility to make local and long distance calls for one low price. In such cases, the service provides you with secure online access to features such as phonebooks, call waiting, caller ID, voice mail, conferencing, call forwarding and more. In this case a telephone adapter is simply plugged into your high speed internet connection and the telephone is plugged into one of the two adapter ports, and you just need to dial from your telephone to initiate a call over the internet.
Cell phone use overseas. In 99% of the world the local cellular service standard is called GSM. We use this in the states as well. When combined with a SIM CARD (which usually goes under the battery of the phone) the phone is able to communicate and the SIM CARD also holds the telephone number and memory for pre-paid credit. Rates can be extremely low using this system. For example in 99% of all SIM CARDS incoming calls are free and calls to the states can cost a trifle. Such as, from the UK to the USA 7 cents/minute, from Israel 22 cents, from Australia 27 cents. Yes, USA Dollar cents! There are today even prepaid service providers in the USA offering rates of 10 cents per minute to call anywhere in the US to any type of phone. No contracts, no credit card checks, no bills. Pre-paid always means no minimums no contracts, no obligations. You only pay for the calls made. You'll need an unlocked GSM tri-band or quadband UNLOCKED phone. You can buy factory unlocked phones and sim cards for more than 170 or the 193 countries on earth from http://www.planetomni.com Tel. # 800-514-2984
Small Telephone Systems Verses Multi-line Business Phones
Choosing the right telephone system from start is always the best path, but not always the most economical. Before you head down to your local electronic store and pick up the cheapest multi-line business phone you can find, here are few pointers you should keep in mind.
Many multi-line business phones have a pretty decent feature set such as voicemail, caller ID, call waiting ID, 3 way calling and intercom (in multi phone setups). These phones integrate the Key System Unit (or KSU) into the phone itself, which means each individual telephone functions as its own "mini phone system." The term KSU, (Key System Unit, Key Signaling Unit or Key Service Unit) dates back to the early day's phone systems, it's basically "the Brain" of the phone system. All call processing data and telephone line interfacing is carried out by the KSU. For many small offices with less than 4 phones (extensions) and 4 telephone lines, these multi-line phones are adequate and economical. However, as a business grows, the many disadvantages of these phones begin to show their merits.
By comparison, multi-line business phones are sold with the marketing term, "KSU-less design," which translates (in buyers minds) to lower overall costs. Small telephone systems on the other hand include a separate KSU unit or "Brain" in addition to each telephone. A major disadvantage comes to play when you are interfacing your phones with the telephone company lines. The KSU acts as the "line interface," for a phone system, all major system connections terminate at the KSU. Now with each multi-line phone acting as its own "mini phone system," each phone now needs direct connections to each telephone line.
A single telephone line consists of 1 pair of wires. Almost all multi-line phones support up to 4 lines, meaning each multi-line phone needs up to 4 pairs of wires or the equivalent of a standard Cat5e cable. As you begin to add more KSU-less phones to your office you must factor in the cost to install another drop of cat5e (or cat5) cable. You must also account for the additional termination blocks in your telephone closet where all these phones must be "Bridged" (or shared) to the 4 phone lines. As you can imagine, for installations with more than say 4 or 5 phones the wiring aspect can get pretty complex. Anything over 6 or 7 phones will be a wiring mess, if done unprofessionally, which adds to the cost of these low budget systems. However, this bridged connection is how multi-line phones "intercom" one another. By sending a signal over each bridged line, each extension can communicate without actually tying up any of the 4 phone lines. As long as every multi-line phone is connected to all 4 lines (or matching number of lines if less than 4), each phone can intercom each other internally while keeping the phone lines free for external calls.
Small Telephones Systems on the other hand, which come equipped with a separate, dedicated KSU unit, are at a distinct advantage in both areas. Having a single KSU unit means a single interface point for the telephone line connections. Many small telephone systems need only a single pair of wire to connect each extension telephone. What this means is if you are deploying a number of phones in one particular area, you can save dramatically on cabling costs by having your contractor "split" the single Cat5e cable into, at most, 4 single telephone jacks! - This becomes very cost effective as you deploy additional phones. (However, many pros will only split single Cat5 cable once for 2 telephone jacks leaving the remaining wires as spare pairs). Cable management becomes much easier (and neater) as you need not worry about bridging 10 phones to 4 telephone lines. One single pair of wires (to connect to a telephone) of the 3 or 4 pairs in a standard telephone cable is enough for as many lines as the small telephone system can handle since the actual line connections are at the dedicated KSU unit and not at the individual telephone.
Another plus for the small telephone system is the ease of transitioning to a larger phone system. The wiring scheme for the most part will remain the same albeit installing more cable drops to new areas. Not so much the same for the multi-line business phones. Depending on how each phone was "bridged" to interface to those 4 telephone lines, this entire wiring scheme may need to be undone as most small (and large) telephone systems require individual (not bridged or shared) connections to the KSU.
Programming wise there is one disadvantage when comparing small business telephone systems to multi-line business phones, which can be viewed as multiple disadvantages. Since each individual telephone functions as its own KSU it also functions as its own Voicemail unit (if equipped). Which means if you want to enable an Auto Attendant feature (where your callers are greeted by a company recording instructing them to press 1 for Joe Boss, 2 for Sales Manager etc...) you will have to record this greeting for as many times as you have voicemail enabled phones (up to 4). Here's why, with most multi-line business phones, the voicemail feature includes a personal voicemail box for the extension and an optional auto attendant feature. The auto attendant feature can only handle one call at a time; ergo if you want the system to answer up to 4 incoming calls simultaneously you need at least 4 auto attendant enabled phones. So technically speaking you must record the same auto attendant greeting 4 times, 1 on each phone. You must also enable the system mailbox for each of the 4 phones to accept general messages. You now have 4 different phones/voicemail boxes in your office where you must check for general messages. This is known as a general mailbox, which is a default destination for callers who do not press a menu option or dial an extension. This scenario is not efficient for larger setups but may work for smaller ones.
With a small business telephone system, there is just one central voicemail unit which can handle multiple calls at once. Storage times are much greater and there is just one mailbox for general messages. You can also take advantage of advanced features (if equipped) such as voicemail to email (where the system sends the voicemail in a standard wav format to your email address), which in this fast paced world can be a BIG time saver and added convenience.
One last point on this topic to cover quickly; with the advent of the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) continually proving its cost effective existence, many businesses find themselves wanting to take advantage of these savings. Many small business telephone systems on the market today are equipped to handle VoIP telephone lines through either a simple hardware or software upgrade. An upgrade may include adding an Ethernet (or media) port to the system or if already equipped, simply enabling this port through software activation. Simply plugging this unit into your company LAN and perhaps minor firewall configuration you can now start saving on land line costs by calling out over less expensive VoIP lines.
Multi-line business telephone can benefit as well but through a 3rd party VoIP gateway. This gateway converts a VoIP line (sometimes called a "Trunk") to a standard telephone port. You will need as many gateways as you want lines, (or opt for a multi-port unit). However you may have to plan on spending some time configuring and adjusting the settings of the unit to obtain the proper volume levels while minimizing echo and other artifacts that may be induced when converting the signal from a standard Analog telephone line to SIP or other VoIP protocol. Many high end units come with built in (hardware or software) echo cancellers and noise suppressors which minimize these adjustments (and work very well) but increase the cost of the gateway dramatically.
To conclude, although it may seem like great savings early in your start up phase, for needs of 4 or less external lines and extension phones, the multi-line business phone can actually prove to be a cost effective solution. In my humble opinion these multi-line phones are better suited for a home office (or SOHO) situation. If you have big plans to expand exponentially (and don't we all!) I recommend you at least consider a small business telephone system. Although a bit more initial investment is required, the benefits far out way the cost disadvantage if not cancel it out completely.
Copyright © 2009 Damian Parkins for PBX Interactive, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
If you're looking for a great small telephone system to start out with that's not too advanced and bloated with "bells and whistles," I recommend the XBlue Networks X16 small office telephone system. This system is priced right smack in the middle of a decent multi-line business phone setup and an advanced small business telephone system. XBlue Networks hit the nail on the head with this model by stripping off only the advanced telephone features most small business may not have a need for, or are rarely used; allowing the X16 small office phone system to fill a niche in the market left primarily untouched. This compact, stylish phone system offers some nice designer phones to choose from (for those wishing to be unique) and a great feature set.
If you're local to the New York City metro area, PBX Interactive, LLC currently has a great promotion going on for these small telephone systems. Feel free to give us a call at 718-272-0206 or just click the following link to take advantage this nice starter telephone system: http://www.pbxinteractive.net/promo/x16
About the author:
Damian Parkins is the Operating Manager / Sr. Telecom Specialist here at PBX Interactive, LLC. He has over 12 years engineering experience in the Telecom industry, with many different system types and telephony platforms under his belt. He has designed many custom telephony solutions for our clients and has interfaced with many leading vendors in the industry. Damian is constantly undergoing training in the latest advancements in Telecom Technology and is one of our main content providers here at http://www.pbxinteractive.net/
Telephones Price Comparison - Things to Remember Before Buying Telephone Handsets
In this jet-set age the utility of telephones have not reduced. Even if we see every other person carrying a mobile phone these days most of the households in developed countries have still not done away with land line telephones. Telephones need not be charged in short intervals unlike mobile phones and thus they can be used during any emergency situation when the power supply gets severed. These positive features of telephones compensate for lack of mobility which cellphones provide in abundance. There are wide array of telephones with various hi-tech features available in the market and you can make proper telephone price comparison before you buy one of your choice.
Now you don't need to drop into a brick and mortar store to buy a telephone handset. The advent of internet has revolutionized the way we shop and there are wide arrays of e-shops available in the internet which would provide you with a wide array of choices for buying telephones manufactured by top brands. The price ranges of the telephones differ on the features incorporated in these telephones. For example, telephones with caller-id and dual speaker and voice messaging features would be much pricier than simple single line telephones without any such fancy features. So, you should make a detailed telephone price comparison before deciding to buy one.
However, the brand name of the manufacturers also makes some considerable different on the price of telephone handset you plan to buy. Starting from Panasonic to Phillips there are quite a few electronic gadget manufacturing giants who have ventured in the telecommunication arena. You would be spoiled for choice if you want to venture out to buy telephone handsets because other top brands like Motorola and Siemens also manufacture telephone handsets. If you don't want branded telephones then you can buy cheaper versions.
Branded telephones are usually more costly than non-branded ones because a telephone set from a reputed brand usually comes with a warranty as well as a quality assurance and a vast support of after sales service network across the country. That's why if you want to procure your telephone hand set from a top brand then you might have to shell out more money than you might have done otherwise.
The best advantages of buying your telephone sets from these websites is that you need not hop from the website of one top brand to another to make telephone price comparison on the handsets of your choice. For example, if you want cord-less digital telephone handset these amazing e-shop websites would provided you detailed price charts where you can compare the price range of similar models manufactured by different manufacturers.
Apart from that, these websites also provide great discount offers to their customers and if you want to avail these offers and deals you just have to log into their website and check out their amazing range of telephone handsets. So, log into one of these popular e-shops selling telephone handsets and buy the telephone which suits your price and needs.
Fiona Livnat is an author with expertise in varied subjects. She has over ten years of experience in writing.Her commitment to help people is reflected in her writing. For more details please visit Telephones Price Comparison
Seven Costly Mistakes Businesses Make When Buying Telephone Equipment
Companies have spent BIG dollars for the telephone equipment that some vendor wanted to sell them - not necessarily for what they wanted or needed.
If you are in the market now or will be soon to update your telephone equipment this report may contain answers to the questions you need to know before you make that capital expenditure. Armed with this knowledge you might just save thousands of dollars.
Paying Too Little or Too Much
To start with, what should a new telephone system cost? In general, you should plan on spending somewhere between $450.00 and $850.00 per station installed. If you spend less than that, you're probably buying something that you don't want. Cheap never lasts. The pleasure of low price is often long forgotten after the pain of poor quality hangs on for many years. If the price is higher, you are probably buying something you don't need.
These numbers do not include specialty add on items like caller I.D., paging or voice mail. Those would increase the price. But this should give you an idea of what you'll be spending. If you think you're going to buy an 8 phone system for under $2,000.00 don't fool yourself. If you find someone to sell it to you, I guarantee you won't be happy because you'll have bought an inexpensive, cheap problem waiting to happen.
All too often the customer will say " I need 3 lines and 8 phones and the vendor is more than happy to provide a bid of just that. Some will even go to the length to fax you your proposal. Why do they work soooooo... hard?
If you're in the manufacturing business or accounting business you probably know that business very well but how much can you know about telephones? It's a shame that a business is sold what they asked for when that really isn't necessarily what they need.
So how do you figure out what you need?
First and most simply ... How many telephones will you need? Start with a floor plan of you facility. It can be a simple sketch of the rooms. Don't have one? Some businesses have a fire escape plan, which is a good place to start, and it will serve for this purpose as well. Or you could just draw that sketch. It doesn't need to be anything fancy. Just something that shows the different rooms and the basic structure of your facility. Now mark the location of each phone you will need so you can get an accurate count of the number of telephones. Don't forget things like faxes, modems and credit card terminals. These could be noted by marking an "F" for fax, "CC" for credit card terminal or an "M" for modem.
Now you know you need "X" number of telephones and "Y" number of peripheral devises (those faxes etc.).
The next step is to figure out what type of telephones you want to have at each location. To be candid, there are as many different types of telephones as there are type of cars. So how do you get a handle on which type of telephones you need at each location? You need to identify what the job of the telephone is at that spot.
"Some basic information on which to base your decision. "
Does the phone need to show each line on it; or can you get by with one button with all the lines located under it? This depends on if you need to be able to go to a phone other than the one that was answered to see the lines and take a call off hold.
Speaker telephone (this might be used by someone who would review large or several papers while on the phone to keep their hands free. Another use may be for a conference room where multiple people might need to listen or talk as a group.
Does the person use the telephone a lot and need to have a one-touch button on it for other individuals in the office? If so, how many? For example, an officer of the company might need a phone with a button for his / her secretary that would enable them to see if that staff member was on the line. It would also allow for one touch access to call that individual. A receptionist would need to have buttons for all the other people so they could transfer calls with the touch of one button. This might be in the form of a console with many buttons on it, or a manager or executive secretary might need a smaller version of the console with a few extra buttons for a smaller group of personnel.
Is there a phone in a break or storage room where you want a way to communicate but that won't be used a lot? This could be a less expensive type of telephone. Do you need to have a courtesy phone in a lobby or counter area for customers to use?
How many telephone lines (telephone numbers) does your business need? How many outside telephone calls do you want to have going on at once? It's been proven that many businesses are over lined. If you have 10 telephone lines and really only need 9 that could be costing your company as much as an extra $400.00 a year. This is an area that you should discuss at length with a prospective telephone vendor. One time I was designing a telephone system for a doctor and she told me she wanted to have five phone lines for her new start up business. When I asked her how many people she was starting with she told me three. "How can three people answer five phone lines?" I asked. And that didn't account for anyone being with patients. I informed her that if she had too many lines no one would ever call in and say, "Doctor Smith, you know when I call in I never have any trouble getting through." People expect their call to be answered. In other words if she was over lined she would never know. She would just pay too much month after month. However, on the other hand if she didn't have enough lines, people would complain about her lines always being busy and she could simply add more lines as needed.
Typically, if I were designing lines for a new business the ratio is one line for every two or three people. Ten people; five lines. Twenty people; ten lines. However, that isn't always the case. In a factory, most people will be in the shop and not need to use the phone. But in a telemarketing firm almost everyone need to have a line. You can't afford to have staff sitting around waiting to use the phone. But these are the exception, not the rule.
Price vs. Cost
Often a business will use the bottom line price to make the final decision. This could be a costly mistake. Let's be realistic. If price is the ultimate deciding fact, we'd all be driving cheap, unreliable, unsafe cars. But you and I know, there are a lot of fine luxury automobiles sold in this country. And there is a good reason why.
We are all very aware of the massive amount of information we're bombarded with about the importance of taking care of our hearts. So if you found out you needed to get a pacemaker, would you go out looking for the cheapest one you could find? Of course not. You would want the best doctor and the best pacemaker money could buy.
Your business telephone system is the heart of your business communication to YOUR customers. Don't you value them as much as you do your health? OK, almost as much. Remember your telephone is the heart of your business.
There was a small city government that was looking at two different telephone systems. One was a cheap system, the other a more expensive more reliable system. Of course the reliable system was almost twice the price of the other cheaper system. When the customer asked if the vendor offering the cheaper system could offer a 5-year warranty like the more expensive system she was told that his cheaper system would probably have to be replaced in five years. So the longer warranty was out of the question. Now can you see that the higher priced system is actually less costly because it would last much longer?
"Could you be missing an important part of the equation?"
There is another part of the telephone equation that most equipment vendors will never even address. The network side. Let me explain. Lets say your looking at a telephone system that has 8 telephones. Earlier you heard me say you can expect your telephone equipment to cost you somewhere between $450.00 and $850.00 per station. If you have an 8-phone system that's a bottom end figure of about $3600.00 and a top end figure of about $6000.00. That's pretty much a
given. Well if your business has 4 telephone lines you probably spend about $30 to $35 per line or $140.00 in reoccurring monthly charges on your telephone bill. If you have long distance bill of say $125.00 per month that's a total reoccurring monthly bill of $265.00 or $3,180.00 per year. If you think you will keep you telephone system 10 years, okay let's be conservative and say 5 years or 60 months, that means you have a network cost of $15,900.00.
Don't you think that the network side of your equation at least deserves a look? Wouldn't it be a good idea to see if there is anything that can be done there to reduce some of the monthly reoccurring expense? Many vendors won't even look at this side of the equation.
"Company gets sued because of their telephone system"
How could it happen? Isn't it almost always true that if something could
happen, wouldn't it happen at the most inopportune time?
A delivery truck looses control and crashes into your building. Thankfully no one is hurt but the impact does two things. The point of impact causes your power to go off and in the excitement of the loud crash a customer in you building collapses. You pick up your telephone to dial 911 to get emergency help and guess what, your phone doesn't work. If you lose critical time this could result in a liability position for your company.
You see, at your house the telephones are powered by the phone cord plugged into the jack. But on a telephone system you basically have a computer device that runs the individual telephones and without electricity your telephones won't work. Therefore, isn't it critical to have battery back-up on that system? Battery back-up is a way to keep your phones running even when you don't have electrical power. This is often an overlooked part of a telephone proposal.
OK, my story is a little stretch. So let me ask a more realistic question. If your power goes off and a customer calls your business what do they hear? Nine out of ten people asked that question say; " The customer hears a busy signal." Well, that does sound like a logical answer but losing power to your telephone system is the equivalent of unplugging all you phones at home and then having some one call you. What would they hear? ... That's right unending ringing. It would appear to them your business is closed. What if they then called one of your competitors and made a purchase from them? You could lose that customer for life. Can you afford to lose even one revenue call due to a short power outage?
Caution: The Trunker
There is yet another area that can be hazardous to your telecommunication health. The one-man shop or trunker. There are telephone equipment sales companies that are run totally by one person. That's right, one person who sells and installs telephone systems. Some of these guys drive up in their car and operate out of the trunk, thus the term trunker. Their overhead is lower because it's just them. If you purchase a bargain telephone system from a company that is run by an individual like this, what is your service like if something happens to him. What if he goes on vacation and you need immediate attention? What if he's installing a new system for someone else and your system goes down? It's mind boggling that a business would risk their communications to purchase a telephone system from one person. Oh you might save a little on the front side, but the loss you could have down the road far out way the few pennies you kept. You need the assurance that your service needs will be met if something happens to your telephones.
Comparing Apples to Oranges
Once you have all your bids in, how do you decipher what is what? There are only a few things that will relate across from one system to the next. The number of phones and lines is an easy one. You need to be careful about the types of phones and what they do. The only other thing that at a glance makes comparing easy is price and we've already discussed the draw back to using that as a major factor. One suggestion is to take your proposals; cover the prices up on them and then copy them and let a vendor or two that you trust tell you what the differences are in the bill of material. A way to eliminate this problem is to hire a consultant to draw up a request for proposal. Usually for a percentage of the purchase price a set of standards can be drawn up so all the vendors are quoting apples or oranges not both. This fee can be somewhere between 5 and 10% of the awarded bid price. But this can be money well spent if it keeps you from making a costly mistake in the purchase of equipment you will have to use for years.
As you can see there are many areas to examine when getting ready to purchase a telephone system for your office. Can you afford to over look any of them? As a matter of fact, you should actually go through what is called a telephone interview with a potential telephone equipment vendor. Spend time having all your questions answered so you understand exactly what it is you need and so will your prospective vendors.
© Bower Income and Profit Systems MMIII All Rights Reserved.
James A. Bower is the Co-Founder and President of Bower Income and Profit Systems a company dedicated to enhancing business performance in many areas through tapes books and seminars. His presentations include sales, marketing, telephone skills, motivation, goal setting and achievement, telephone equipment and voice mail design and business organization for efficiency. He is an internationally recognized instructor and is the recipient of many awards in recognition of his successful efforts in assisting businesses create a more efficient environment resulting in maximum profits. He has had the opportunity to speak for groups as a large as 5000 and can get his points across to any size audience.
James has been actively addressing business issues and solving business problems for over 30 years. He is available to make presentations to company staff or for individual consultation.
Contact James at 316-773-1994 or jbower1@cox.net
History of the Telephone -- from Bell to VoIP and Beyond
Everyone knows the story of Alexander Graham Bell inventing the telephone.
There's the story of Bell's first words, "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see
you," that's indelibly printed on our brains from childhood. However, what some
don't know is that the telephone was developed in a similar form simultaneously
by Elisha Gray, who lost the patent battle by only a few hours in 1876.
Bell was successful primarily because he understood not only electricity and
the workings of the telegraph, but had a thorough understanding of acoustics,
which most inventors weren't all that familiar with. While focusing on the
mechanics, they weren't taking into account the unique qualities of sound that
made transmitting speech so much more complex than simple clicks of the
telegraph. With a background in music and acoustics, Bell could address these
issues more readily.
Chance happening plays role in acceptance
The telephone may not have gained such wide acceptance if, as if by
serendipity, the Centennial Exhibition hadn't been scheduled in Philadelphia for
only a few months later. Tucked away at a small table in an obscure corner, Bell
did not hope to garner much attention until he drew the attention of the Emperor
Dom Pedro de Alcantara of Brazil, who was amazed by the invention. Immediately,
all the scientists in attendance were clamoring to study the new invention.
At first telephones were seen as a fad that were more for entertainment
purposes than commerce, until newspapers and banks began grudgingly using them
to convey information quickly by virtue of free phone installations. The
publicity from this made them immediately more popular and soon phone exchanges
were set up in most major cities.
In the 1880's metallic circuits were developed that allowed for long distance
calls, which grew in popularity slowly because of the cost. Later, in the
1890's, this was overcome by the development of the party line so that families,
especially in rural areas, could split the cost of a line.
Direct dial overcomes operator interference
Until 1891, calls were put through by exchange operators, but this was done
away with by a Kansas City man who invented the direct dial system because he
was paranoid enough to think that the operators were sending his business calls
to competitors. He was an undertaker.
In 1927, the first transatlantic call was made over radio waves. During both
World Wars, telephone advancements grew by leaps and bounds because of heavy
spending by the Defense Department. Innovations resulting from war-time
experiments included Bell Telephone's first mobile telephone system, which
connected moving vehicles to landlines via radio. Surprisingly, this was as
early as 1946, a year that also saw the development of coaxial cables for major
transmission improvements with less interference.
In the 1960's, telephones were so much a part of the landscape that Bell
Telephone could no longer continue to use the alpha-numeric codes for telephone
exchanges (remember using numbers like Normandy-7610?) and switched to longer,
all numeric numbers. At the same time, transatlantic cables were being laid to
accommodate the increased demand for intercontinental telephone communication.
One of the most important shifts in telephone history was the launch of the
first telephone satellite in July of 1962. TelStar was a joint venture between
Bell and NASA and revolutionized telephone communications like nothing that had
come before. Satellites in geosynchronous orbit could now be used for long
distance calls without the need for laying endless lines of cable and did away
with the problem of frequent cable damage and repair.
Fiber optics move sound at the speed of light
Fiber Optic Cables were first used for telephone transmission in 1977, when
both GTE and AT&T laid Fiber Optic lines in Chicago and Boston. By the
mid-1980's, fiber optic cable was the preferred method of telephone
transmission, since it could carry a much higher volume of calls with much less
interference. Since it also carries information faster and farther and resists
lightning strikes, the advantages soon became obvious to the computer and other
industries as well.
When the United States government deregulated telephone service, AT&T, the
telephone communications giant, was immediately inundated with competition from
MCI, Sprint and hundreds of smaller local companies and soon fiber optic lines
were snaking around the country, being dropped along side natural rights of way
such as gas lines and railroads. Telephone costs dropped and a new telephone
service revolution had begun.
Cellular phones take the next step forward
In 1973, Dr. Martin Cooper of Motorola Corporation made what was probably the
first cellular telephone call on a portable handset called the Dyna-Tac. After a
successful test run, he took it to New York to introduce the technology to the
public. By 1977, the cell phone had gone public, but these first models were
cumbersome and generally used by those who were used to keeping in touch by
two-way radio. By no means were they considered something that everyone should
have or even want. They were initially considered a replacement for the mobile
phones already in existence. The difference with cellular was the use of small
"cells" for range of service in order to increase the capacity of calls handled,
dramatically increasing the number of calls capable of being made by
mobile/cellular phone at one time in one area.
The first cellular services used analog technology operating at 800 Megahertz
in a continuous wave. Over time, the power needs of callers increased and the
industry standard moved to a more reliable 1850 MHz with PCS. In 1988, the
Cellular Technology Industry Association was formed to develop guidelines for
cellular service providers and steer developments and improvements in the cell
phone industry. There are now well over 60 million cellular telephone customers,
a staggering number for a service that has been commercially available for only
thirty years.
Next stop, digital!
While the majority of users still have analog cell phones, the new frontier
is definitely digital. Rather than using a continuous wavelength for
transmission, digital chops up the wave into discreet bytes of information and
sends them in "pulses" of data. The up side to this is that digital signals tend
to be more secure when transmitted than analog. It's also a more efficient use
of bandwidth and provides clearer, cleaner sound quality. If you transmit video
clips or photos (like with the new video or picture cell phones) digital is much
faster, and will be the choice hands-down when you're integrating the cell phone
and the Internet.
There is a caveat; however, in that digital currently transmits through three
different technologies. This can lead to some problems with coverage. If you are
on a TDMA (time-division multiple access) system and traveling in an area that
has digital coverage that's CDMA (code-division multiple access), you could run
into problems.
The answer for now is the combined analog-digital technology that providers
are touting. This offers the great coverage of analog when needed and the great
speed and quality of PCS/digital.
Telephone conferencing arrives on the scene
The first real "audio conferencing" could be said to have been the party
lines set up back in the early years of telephone use, although at that time the
advantages of a party line for multiple users weren't grasped except as a way to
save money. In fact, the fact that several people in different locations could
pick up and talk on the line at the same time was considered a nuisance and was
actively discouraged as "eavesdropping."
When party lines were phased out, the idea of multiple conversations were
forgotten until businesses began seeking ways to carry on meetings via telephone
in order to save travel expenses and link teams together over distances. The
concept was revisited with new parameters; this time restrictions needed to be
in place, and the lines had to be open only when needed and desired.
Soon companies around the globe were offering to coordinate conference
calling for companies based on either flat rates, monthly fees or based on call
volume, with a trained operator setting up connections between each participant
on a dedicated line so that groups of up to ten could talk simultaneously. Their
bulk long-distance rates enabled them to pass savings along to their customers.
Telephone manufacturers like Polycom, AT&T and Panasonic also jumped on the
bandwagon, developing office telephone systems that enabled users to dial a
client, put them on hold then call up a third party and connect the three
callers into one conversation.
The Internet soon brought competition, however, to audio conferencing and the
cost of long distance telephone calls. Even with lower rates based on bulk
purchasing and group rates, Internet telephony is gaining ground on traditional
telephone audio conferencing because it's so much cheaper.
VoIP, the Internet and the eventual demise of traditional telephone
conferencing
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) soon became popular for telephone
communications because it avoids the toll charges of standard telephone
connections. Dial-up internet connections provided near "toll-quality" voice
communications, and with broadband connections the increased data throughput
enabled businesses to use VoIP in conjunction with other Internet services like
data sharing and video conferencing. With the money saved using VoIP, it seems
obvious that using analog phone lines for telephone conferencing will soon be a
thing of the past.
Most VoIP audio conferencing technologies give you the capability to network
multiple groups or parties from different geographical locations, making it
simple to hold an international sales staff meeting. Web conferencing solutions
using VoIP from companies such as Voxwire, TTCGlobalTalk and VoiceCafe can
provide almost unlimited conference room seats for a meeting, limited only by
the bandwidth of the VoIP server.
As the Internet becomes a standard part of any suite of office equipment,
analog telephone services, audio conferencing and their equipment will soon
become obsolete. Audio conferencing will be done more and more on the Internet
using VoIP based web conferencing services offering powerful collaborative
services that go beyond just simple voice communications. For placing calls,
digital phone services like Vonage and Packet8 that implement VoIP over
broadband connections will step in to offer less expensive, more comprehensive
calling options to meet the needs of individuals and companies going into the
future.
This article on the "The History of the Telephone" reprinted with
permission.
Copyright © 2004-2005 Evaluseek Publishing.
About the Author
Lucy P. Roberts is a successful freelance writer providing practical information and advice for consumers and businesses about everything related to audio conferencing services and VoIP providers. Her numerous articles include tips for saving both time and money; product reviews and reports; and other valuable insights for persons searching the Internet for information about how VoIP works and related topics.
Seven Costly Mistakes Businesses Make When Buying Telephone Equipment
Companies have spent BIG dollars for the telephone equipment that some vendor wanted to sell them - not necessarily for what they wanted or needed.
If you are in the market now or will be soon to update your telephone equipment this report may contain answers to the questions you need to know before you make that capital expenditure. Armed with this knowledge you might just save thousands of dollars.
Paying Too Little or Too Much
To start with, what should a new telephone system cost? In general, you should plan on spending somewhere between $450.00 and $850.00 per station installed. If you spend less than that, you're probably buying something that you don't want. Cheap never lasts. The pleasure of low price is often long forgotten after the pain of poor quality hangs on for many years. If the price is higher, you are probably buying something you don't need.
These numbers do not include specialty add on items like caller I.D., paging or voice mail. Those would increase the price. But this should give you an idea of what you'll be spending. If you think you're going to buy an 8 phone system for under $2,000.00 don't fool yourself. If you find someone to sell it to you, I guarantee you won't be happy because you'll have bought an inexpensive, cheap problem waiting to happen.
All too often the customer will say " I need 3 lines and 8 phones and the vendor is more than happy to provide a bid of just that. Some will even go to the length to fax you your proposal. Why do they work soooooo... hard?
If you're in the manufacturing business or accounting business you probably know that business very well but how much can you know about telephones? It's a shame that a business is sold what they asked for when that really isn't necessarily what they need.
So how do you figure out what you need?
First and most simply ... How many telephones will you need? Start with a floor plan of you facility. It can be a simple sketch of the rooms. Don't have one? Some businesses have a fire escape plan, which is a good place to start, and it will serve for this purpose as well. Or you could just draw that sketch. It doesn't need to be anything fancy. Just something that shows the different rooms and the basic structure of your facility. Now mark the location of each phone you will need so you can get an accurate count of the number of telephones. Don't forget things like faxes, modems and credit card terminals. These could be noted by marking an "F" for fax, "CC" for credit card terminal or an "M" for modem.
Now you know you need "X" number of telephones and "Y" number of peripheral devises (those faxes etc.).
The next step is to figure out what type of telephones you want to have at each location. To be candid, there are as many different types of telephones as there are type of cars. So how do you get a handle on which type of telephones you need at each location? You need to identify what the job of the telephone is at that spot.
"Some basic information on which to base your decision. "
Does the phone need to show each line on it; or can you get by with one button with all the lines located under it? This depends on if you need to be able to go to a phone other than the one that was answered to see the lines and take a call off hold.
Speaker telephone (this might be used by someone who would review large or several papers while on the phone to keep their hands free. Another use may be for a conference room where multiple people might need to listen or talk as a group.
Does the person use the telephone a lot and need to have a one-touch button on it for other individuals in the office? If so, how many? For example, an officer of the company might need a phone with a button for his / her secretary that would enable them to see if that staff member was on the line. It would also allow for one touch access to call that individual. A receptionist would need to have buttons for all the other people so they could transfer calls with the touch of one button. This might be in the form of a console with many buttons on it, or a manager or executive secretary might need a smaller version of the console with a few extra buttons for a smaller group of personnel.
Is there a phone in a break or storage room where you want a way to communicate but that won't be used a lot? This could be a less expensive type of telephone. Do you need to have a courtesy phone in a lobby or counter area for customers to use?
How many telephone lines (telephone numbers) does your business need? How many outside telephone calls do you want to have going on at once? It's been proven that many businesses are over lined. If you have 10 telephone lines and really only need 9 that could be costing your company as much as an extra $400.00 a year. This is an area that you should discuss at length with a prospective telephone vendor. One time I was designing a telephone system for a doctor and she told me she wanted to have five phone lines for her new start up business. When I asked her how many people she was starting with she told me three. "How can three people answer five phone lines?" I asked. And that didn't account for anyone being with patients. I informed her that if she had too many lines no one would ever call in and say, "Doctor Smith, you know when I call in I never have any trouble getting through." People expect their call to be answered. In other words if she was over lined she would never know. She would just pay too much month after month. However, on the other hand if she didn't have enough lines, people would complain about her lines always being busy and she could simply add more lines as needed.
Typically, if I were designing lines for a new business the ratio is one line for every two or three people. Ten people; five lines. Twenty people; ten lines. However, that isn't always the case. In a factory, most people will be in the shop and not need to use the phone. But in a telemarketing firm almost everyone need to have a line. You can't afford to have staff sitting around waiting to use the phone. But these are the exception, not the rule.
Price vs. Cost
Often a business will use the bottom line price to make the final decision. This could be a costly mistake. Let's be realistic. If price is the ultimate deciding fact, we'd all be driving cheap, unreliable, unsafe cars. But you and I know, there are a lot of fine luxury automobiles sold in this country. And there is a good reason why.
We are all very aware of the massive amount of information we're bombarded with about the importance of taking care of our hearts. So if you found out you needed to get a pacemaker, would you go out looking for the cheapest one you could find? Of course not. You would want the best doctor and the best pacemaker money could buy.
Your business telephone system is the heart of your business communication to YOUR customers. Don't you value them as much as you do your health? OK, almost as much. Remember your telephone is the heart of your business.
There was a small city government that was looking at two different telephone systems. One was a cheap system, the other a more expensive more reliable system. Of course the reliable system was almost twice the price of the other cheaper system. When the customer asked if the vendor offering the cheaper system could offer a 5-year warranty like the more expensive system she was told that his cheaper system would probably have to be replaced in five years. So the longer warranty was out of the question. Now can you see that the higher priced system is actually less costly because it would last much longer?
"Could you be missing an important part of the equation?"
There is another part of the telephone equation that most equipment vendors will never even address. The network side. Let me explain. Lets say your looking at a telephone system that has 8 telephones. Earlier you heard me say you can expect your telephone equipment to cost you somewhere between $450.00 and $850.00 per station. If you have an 8-phone system that's a bottom end figure of about $3600.00 and a top end figure of about $6000.00. That's pretty much a
given. Well if your business has 4 telephone lines you probably spend about $30 to $35 per line or $140.00 in reoccurring monthly charges on your telephone bill. If you have long distance bill of say $125.00 per month that's a total reoccurring monthly bill of $265.00 or $3,180.00 per year. If you think you will keep you telephone system 10 years, okay let's be conservative and say 5 years or 60 months, that means you have a network cost of $15,900.00.
Don't you think that the network side of your equation at least deserves a look? Wouldn't it be a good idea to see if there is anything that can be done there to reduce some of the monthly reoccurring expense? Many vendors won't even look at this side of the equation.
"Company gets sued because of their telephone system"
How could it happen? Isn't it almost always true that if something could
happen, wouldn't it happen at the most inopportune time?
A delivery truck looses control and crashes into your building. Thankfully no one is hurt but the impact does two things. The point of impact causes your power to go off and in the excitement of the loud crash a customer in you building collapses. You pick up your telephone to dial 911 to get emergency help and guess what, your phone doesn't work. If you lose critical time this could result in a liability position for your company.
You see, at your house the telephones are powered by the phone cord plugged into the jack. But on a telephone system you basically have a computer device that runs the individual telephones and without electricity your telephones won't work. Therefore, isn't it critical to have battery back-up on that system? Battery back-up is a way to keep your phones running even when you don't have electrical power. This is often an overlooked part of a telephone proposal.
OK, my story is a little stretch. So let me ask a more realistic question. If your power goes off and a customer calls your business what do they hear? Nine out of ten people asked that question say; " The customer hears a busy signal." Well, that does sound like a logical answer but losing power to your telephone system is the equivalent of unplugging all you phones at home and then having some one call you. What would they hear? ... That's right unending ringing. It would appear to them your business is closed. What if they then called one of your competitors and made a purchase from them? You could lose that customer for life. Can you afford to lose even one revenue call due to a short power outage?
Caution: The Trunker
There is yet another area that can be hazardous to your telecommunication health. The one-man shop or trunker. There are telephone equipment sales companies that are run totally by one person. That's right, one person who sells and installs telephone systems. Some of these guys drive up in their car and operate out of the trunk, thus the term trunker. Their overhead is lower because it's just them. If you purchase a bargain telephone system from a company that is run by an individual like this, what is your service like if something happens to him. What if he goes on vacation and you need immediate attention? What if he's installing a new system for someone else and your system goes down? It's mind boggling that a business would risk their communications to purchase a telephone system from one person. Oh you might save a little on the front side, but the loss you could have down the road far out way the few pennies you kept. You need the assurance that your service needs will be met if something happens to your telephones.
Comparing Apples to Oranges
Once you have all your bids in, how do you decipher what is what? There are only a few things that will relate across from one system to the next. The number of phones and lines is an easy one. You need to be careful about the types of phones and what they do. The only other thing that at a glance makes comparing easy is price and we've already discussed the draw back to using that as a major factor. One suggestion is to take your proposals; cover the prices up on them and then copy them and let a vendor or two that you trust tell you what the differences are in the bill of material. A way to eliminate this problem is to hire a consultant to draw up a request for proposal. Usually for a percentage of the purchase price a set of standards can be drawn up so all the vendors are quoting apples or oranges not both. This fee can be somewhere between 5 and 10% of the awarded bid price. But this can be money well spent if it keeps you from making a costly mistake in the purchase of equipment you will have to use for years.
As you can see there are many areas to examine when getting ready to purchase a telephone system for your office. Can you afford to over look any of them? As a matter of fact, you should actually go through what is called a telephone interview with a potential telephone equipment vendor. Spend time having all your questions answered so you understand exactly what it is you need and so will your prospective vendors.
© Bower Income and Profit Systems MMIII All Rights Reserved.
James A. Bower is the Co-Founder and President of Bower Income and Profit Systems a company dedicated to enhancing business performance in many areas through tapes books and seminars. His presentations include sales, marketing, telephone skills, motivation, goal setting and achievement, telephone equipment and voice mail design and business organization for efficiency. He is an internationally recognized instructor and is the recipient of many awards in recognition of his successful efforts in assisting businesses create a more efficient environment resulting in maximum profits. He has had the opportunity to speak for groups as a large as 5000 and can get his points across to any size audience.
James has been actively addressing business issues and solving business problems for over 30 years. He is available to make presentations to company staff or for individual consultation.
Contact James at 316-773-1994 or jbower1@cox.net
History of the Telephone -- from Bell to VoIP and Beyond
Everyone knows the story of Alexander Graham Bell inventing the telephone.
There's the story of Bell's first words, "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see
you," that's indelibly printed on our brains from childhood. However, what some
don't know is that the telephone was developed in a similar form simultaneously
by Elisha Gray, who lost the patent battle by only a few hours in 1876.
Bell was successful primarily because he understood not only electricity and
the workings of the telegraph, but had a thorough understanding of acoustics,
which most inventors weren't all that familiar with. While focusing on the
mechanics, they weren't taking into account the unique qualities of sound that
made transmitting speech so much more complex than simple clicks of the
telegraph. With a background in music and acoustics, Bell could address these
issues more readily.
Chance happening plays role in acceptance
The telephone may not have gained such wide acceptance if, as if by
serendipity, the Centennial Exhibition hadn't been scheduled in Philadelphia for
only a few months later. Tucked away at a small table in an obscure corner, Bell
did not hope to garner much attention until he drew the attention of the Emperor
Dom Pedro de Alcantara of Brazil, who was amazed by the invention. Immediately,
all the scientists in attendance were clamoring to study the new invention.
At first telephones were seen as a fad that were more for entertainment
purposes than commerce, until newspapers and banks began grudgingly using them
to convey information quickly by virtue of free phone installations. The
publicity from this made them immediately more popular and soon phone exchanges
were set up in most major cities.
In the 1880's metallic circuits were developed that allowed for long distance
calls, which grew in popularity slowly because of the cost. Later, in the
1890's, this was overcome by the development of the party line so that families,
especially in rural areas, could split the cost of a line.
Direct dial overcomes operator interference
Until 1891, calls were put through by exchange operators, but this was done
away with by a Kansas City man who invented the direct dial system because he
was paranoid enough to think that the operators were sending his business calls
to competitors. He was an undertaker.
In 1927, the first transatlantic call was made over radio waves. During both
World Wars, telephone advancements grew by leaps and bounds because of heavy
spending by the Defense Department. Innovations resulting from war-time
experiments included Bell Telephone's first mobile telephone system, which
connected moving vehicles to landlines via radio. Surprisingly, this was as
early as 1946, a year that also saw the development of coaxial cables for major
transmission improvements with less interference.
In the 1960's, telephones were so much a part of the landscape that Bell
Telephone could no longer continue to use the alpha-numeric codes for telephone
exchanges (remember using numbers like Normandy-7610?) and switched to longer,
all numeric numbers. At the same time, transatlantic cables were being laid to
accommodate the increased demand for intercontinental telephone communication.
One of the most important shifts in telephone history was the launch of the
first telephone satellite in July of 1962. TelStar was a joint venture between
Bell and NASA and revolutionized telephone communications like nothing that had
come before. Satellites in geosynchronous orbit could now be used for long
distance calls without the need for laying endless lines of cable and did away
with the problem of frequent cable damage and repair.
Fiber optics move sound at the speed of light
Fiber Optic Cables were first used for telephone transmission in 1977, when
both GTE and AT&T laid Fiber Optic lines in Chicago and Boston. By the
mid-1980's, fiber optic cable was the preferred method of telephone
transmission, since it could carry a much higher volume of calls with much less
interference. Since it also carries information faster and farther and resists
lightning strikes, the advantages soon became obvious to the computer and other
industries as well.
When the United States government deregulated telephone service, AT&T, the
telephone communications giant, was immediately inundated with competition from
MCI, Sprint and hundreds of smaller local companies and soon fiber optic lines
were snaking around the country, being dropped along side natural rights of way
such as gas lines and railroads. Telephone costs dropped and a new telephone
service revolution had begun.
Cellular phones take the next step forward
In 1973, Dr. Martin Cooper of Motorola Corporation made what was probably the
first cellular telephone call on a portable handset called the Dyna-Tac. After a
successful test run, he took it to New York to introduce the technology to the
public. By 1977, the cell phone had gone public, but these first models were
cumbersome and generally used by those who were used to keeping in touch by
two-way radio. By no means were they considered something that everyone should
have or even want. They were initially considered a replacement for the mobile
phones already in existence. The difference with cellular was the use of small
"cells" for range of service in order to increase the capacity of calls handled,
dramatically increasing the number of calls capable of being made by
mobile/cellular phone at one time in one area.
The first cellular services used analog technology operating at 800 Megahertz
in a continuous wave. Over time, the power needs of callers increased and the
industry standard moved to a more reliable 1850 MHz with PCS. In 1988, the
Cellular Technology Industry Association was formed to develop guidelines for
cellular service providers and steer developments and improvements in the cell
phone industry. There are now well over 60 million cellular telephone customers,
a staggering number for a service that has been commercially available for only
thirty years.
Next stop, digital!
While the majority of users still have analog cell phones, the new frontier
is definitely digital. Rather than using a continuous wavelength for
transmission, digital chops up the wave into discreet bytes of information and
sends them in "pulses" of data. The up side to this is that digital signals tend
to be more secure when transmitted than analog. It's also a more efficient use
of bandwidth and provides clearer, cleaner sound quality. If you transmit video
clips or photos (like with the new video or picture cell phones) digital is much
faster, and will be the choice hands-down when you're integrating the cell phone
and the Internet.
There is a caveat; however, in that digital currently transmits through three
different technologies. This can lead to some problems with coverage. If you are
on a TDMA (time-division multiple access) system and traveling in an area that
has digital coverage that's CDMA (code-division multiple access), you could run
into problems.
The answer for now is the combined analog-digital technology that providers
are touting. This offers the great coverage of analog when needed and the great
speed and quality of PCS/digital.
Telephone conferencing arrives on the scene
The first real "audio conferencing" could be said to have been the party
lines set up back in the early years of telephone use, although at that time the
advantages of a party line for multiple users weren't grasped except as a way to
save money. In fact, the fact that several people in different locations could
pick up and talk on the line at the same time was considered a nuisance and was
actively discouraged as "eavesdropping."
When party lines were phased out, the idea of multiple conversations were
forgotten until businesses began seeking ways to carry on meetings via telephone
in order to save travel expenses and link teams together over distances. The
concept was revisited with new parameters; this time restrictions needed to be
in place, and the lines had to be open only when needed and desired.
Soon companies around the globe were offering to coordinate conference
calling for companies based on either flat rates, monthly fees or based on call
volume, with a trained operator setting up connections between each participant
on a dedicated line so that groups of up to ten could talk simultaneously. Their
bulk long-distance rates enabled them to pass savings along to their customers.
Telephone manufacturers like Polycom, AT&T and Panasonic also jumped on the
bandwagon, developing office telephone systems that enabled users to dial a
client, put them on hold then call up a third party and connect the three
callers into one conversation.
The Internet soon brought competition, however, to audio conferencing and the
cost of long distance telephone calls. Even with lower rates based on bulk
purchasing and group rates, Internet telephony is gaining ground on traditional
telephone audio conferencing because it's so much cheaper.
VoIP, the Internet and the eventual demise of traditional telephone
conferencing
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) soon became popular for telephone
communications because it avoids the toll charges of standard telephone
connections. Dial-up internet connections provided near "toll-quality" voice
communications, and with broadband connections the increased data throughput
enabled businesses to use VoIP in conjunction with other Internet services like
data sharing and video conferencing. With the money saved using VoIP, it seems
obvious that using analog phone lines for telephone conferencing will soon be a
thing of the past.
Most VoIP audio conferencing technologies give you the capability to network
multiple groups or parties from different geographical locations, making it
simple to hold an international sales staff meeting. Web conferencing solutions
using VoIP from companies such as Voxwire, TTCGlobalTalk and VoiceCafe can
provide almost unlimited conference room seats for a meeting, limited only by
the bandwidth of the VoIP server.
As the Internet becomes a standard part of any suite of office equipment,
analog telephone services, audio conferencing and their equipment will soon
become obsolete. Audio conferencing will be done more and more on the Internet
using VoIP based web conferencing services offering powerful collaborative
services that go beyond just simple voice communications. For placing calls,
digital phone services like Vonage and Packet8 that implement VoIP over
broadband connections will step in to offer less expensive, more comprehensive
calling options to meet the needs of individuals and companies going into the
future.
This article on the "The History of the Telephone" reprinted with
permission.
Copyright © 2004-2005 Evaluseek Publishing.
About the Author
Lucy P. Roberts is a successful freelance writer providing practical information and advice for consumers and businesses about everything related to audio conferencing services and VoIP providers. Her numerous articles include tips for saving both time and money; product reviews and reports; and other valuable insights for persons searching the Internet for information about how VoIP works and related topics.