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Understanding VoIP Gateways
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by: dylanstaples
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VoIP gateways act as VoIP network translators and mediators, translating telephone calls that are placed through the 'normal' telephone services into digital data packets that are compatible with a service providers VoIP system. These gateways also assist in routing telephone calls to the correct users. And they are able to translate between different VoIP protocols. This enables compatibility between VoIP systems and devices. These benefits make VoIP gateways an essential part of any commercial VoIP network that must cater for different users and uses.
With the increase in the popularity of VoIP, more and more gateway products have become available. Some of the well known manufacturers of gateways include Nortel Networks and Cisco Systems.
These gateways can either consist of hardware products or software products. The hardware gateways tend to cost more than software gateways and can be purchased as a stand alone box. They tend to be viewed as more reliable and do not consume computer power.
Buyers of VoIP gateways can select from products that offer numerous phone, fax machine, PBX and STN support capabilities.
The basic VoIP gateways at the lower end of the cost graph comes equipped with a firewall, a router, and a telephone jack, and can be purchased for a few hundred dollars. To offer basic functionality they have ports for the phone jack, the broadband modem, and the computer or network connection. These low end VoIP gateways targets the home user and small business owner.
At the mid range of gateways, additional functionality such as signal encryption and voice compression is offered to ensure security and efficient bandwidth usage.
The high end gateways are used by large corporations and telecommunications providers to provide complex VoIP infrastructure, and they can cost several thousand dollars. These systems have sophisticated functionality such as interactive voice response systems for automated voice response functions, and they can carry thousands of simultaneous telephone conversations. They also offer other functions like conference calling and call recording.
There are new features and functions for VoIP gateways being built all of the time, such as support for emerging VoIP standards and faster translations. Many of these improvements are software based and therefore can be sent to customers very quickly and cheaper in the form of a software upgrade.
The future sees VoIP gateways customers getting more products and enhanced features. It will allow VoIP networks to build, expand and upgrade their networks and provide better quality and even more inexpensive calls.
About the Author
By Dylan Staples. At voip.besttipsonline.com you can get VoIP help, as well as advice on VoIP requirements.
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