In today’s world, all Office Phone Systems utilize VoIP to a certain degree. SIP Trunking, for example, is entirely VoIP. Analog systems aren’t one hundred percent VoIP, but most use VoIP for their data network.
Complete VoIP networks are actually made up of two networks; a local area network (LAN) and the Internet connection (wide area network or WAN). From the desktop to the Internet your network will need to support voice. While voice may just be a different type of data traffic, it is vital to your office phone system. If it lags, your phone call quality will be poor. There are a few different types of data networks:
Routers – In most cases your carrier will install your Internet router. Routers pass voice transmissions without much of an issue usually. However, some carriers (and circuit types) require small tweaks made by the carrier to correctly support voice.
Firewalls – Implementing a modern telephone system with a firewall can be tricky. The purpose of a firewall is to keep all unwanted data outside of your network. This means that the firewall will need to be configured to allow VoIP traffic.
Ethernet Switches – It’s quite uncommon for an Ethernet switch to experience problems supporting voice. However, VoIP telephones require external power. That power can be delivered via a local power source or through an Ethernet connection. To send it through a data connection, all you need to do is replace your present Ethernet switch with Power over Ethernet (POE) switches.
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