We have compiled a glossary to help clarify and understand the world of office telecommunications systems and their broader scope of service requirements. The terms, abbreviations and acronyms below are some of the most common you will come across whilst familiarising yourself with the industry and market. If you need any further help understanding the office telecoms landscape or the best approach to reviewing your office phone system, feel free to ‘contact us’.
Telecomminications Industry
OFCOM
Is the short acronym for ‘The Office of Communications’. They are the telecommunications regulator in the UK. Below is a link to their website.
One of the things OFCOM controls is telephone number ranges. These number ranges are issued by OFCOM to Network Operators. It is from these number ranges the end user choses a new number .
Network Operators
These companies provide the network infrastructure access to communication providers.
They include companies like;
BT
Gamma Telecom
Virgin Media
Colt Telecom
Communications Providers
These are the companies that offer business telecoms packages in the UK to businesses and households.
Openreach
Formerly known as BT Openreach and still part of the BT Group. Openreach look after the BT network infrastructure, meaning copper cable network which is being replaced with Fibre.
Phone Systems
VoIP
Is abbreviation for ‘ Voice over Internet Protocol’. The internet protocol part determines the rules for transmitting voice data. It is these rules that are standardised across the internet and office networks that allow different platforms to work together.
Cloud Phone System/ Hosted Phone System
Rather than having a physical phone system in your office your phones connect via the internet to your phone system at an off-site remote location. These type of phone systems are also referred to as Hosted VoIP.
PBX
Abbreviation for ‘Private Branch Exchange’. Essentially a PBX is a hardware phone system located within an office that is dedicated to handing phone calls, call transferring and all other telephone system functionality.
Internet Connectivity
ADSL Broadband
Is the abbreviation for ‘Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line‘. It is an internet connection type delivered over the traditional copper wire network.
Cable Broadband
An internet connection delivered using a coaxial cable
Fibre Broadband
An internet connection delivered over fibre optic cables. Fibre optic cable has a far better data transfer speed that copper cable or coaxial.
Leased Lines
Are a fixed bandwidth internet connection. These internet connections give business users the reliability of high quality internet with guarantees of upload and download speeds, uptime and resilience. Leased refers to the fact an ISP (internet service provider) leases a dedicated line directly to an individual business.
Characteristics of all leased lines are:
Symmetrical – Meaning they have the same upload and download speeds.
Uncontended – Meaning not shared with other internet users.
Point -to- Point – Meaning a direct connection from an ISP to your business.
Bandwidth
Is the term which describes the amount of data that can be transmitted through an internet connection in a given period of time. This is described as kilobits per second (kbps). Internet speed is another term more commonly used for the same thing. The importance of internet bandwidth/speed is directly linked to quality of services and the user experience of, for example. online cloud based services (web), email delivery, cloud data storage, hosted VoIP telphone systems and more.
IT Network Structures
LAN
Is the abbreviation for ‘Local Area Network‘. You may have heard the term LAN port, or ethernet socket or network cable. If you’ve ever plugged a network cable into your laptop, the socket you’ve plugged into is called a LAN port.
WAN
Is the abbreviation for ‘Wide Area Network‘ and called as such because these networks span regions, countries and worldwide. WANs are used to connect LANs together. So for example an internet service provider has built a WAN to provide a connection from a local businesses LAN to the internet.
DSL
Is the abbreviation for ‘Digital Subscriber Line‘. The most common version of a DSL is called Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line or ADSL. ADSL uses the copper phone line network. Other versions of DSL are;
High Bit Rate DSL (HDSL)
Symmetric DSL (SDSL)
Very High Bit Rate DSL (VDSL)
ISDN
The abbreviation for ‘Integrated Services Digital Network‘. It is a set of standards which uses digital transmission to make and receive phone calls, video conferencing and other network services over the circuits of a traditional PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network). BT will be switching off their ISDN network in 2025. From 2023 BT will stop issuing new orders for ISDN2 and ISDN30 lines.
Telephone Network Structures
PSTN
Is the abbreviation for ‘Public Switched Telephone Network‘. It has been around since the late 1800’s and uses the copper wire network that evolved from the era of Alexander Graham Bell, and more recently also using fibre optic cables, cellular networks and satellites.
FTTC
The abbreviation for ‘Fibre To The Cabinet‘. At least three times faster than ADSL broadband. Available to 96% of the UK. This is where fibre optic cable is used up to the comms cabinet seen in public places. Beyond that point, to your address, it will most likely be copper cable. You may have seen an OpenReach telecoms engineer working on them. You can check if fibre is available to you using the link below
https://www.openreach.com/fibre-broadband/ultrafast-full-fibre-broadband#fibrechecker
FTTP
Is the abbreviation for ‘Fibre To The Premises‘. Sometimes referred to as ‘Full Fibre’. This is where you have a fibre connection that reaches directly to your front door. Currently as of the end of 2021 this type of connection was available to 33% of homes in the UK and growing.
SIP
Is the abbreviation for ‘Session Initiated Protocol’. It is the protocol which allows VoIP and video streaming services over a broadband connection. SIP for example controls the establishment and release of VoIP phone calls.
SIP Trunks
It is the protocol that converts voice into digital data. It is a virtual (digital) version of an analogue (physical) phone line.
SIP Provider
They are organisations who provide SIP Trunks, which allows your companys’ PBX (Private Branch Exchange) to connect to the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network).
General
Video Conferencing
This service allows you to make a call to another person whilst at the same time as having audio you also have video streaming of the call.
Number Porting
Is the process of keeping your existing land line phone number and moving it to a new telephone service provider.
Softphone
A software phone is just that, a piece of software or app that can be installed onto a device, i.e. computer, tablet, laptop or mobile phone that allows you to make and receive calls, transfer calls just like using your VoIP desk phone.