Are you struggling with poor calling service with an analog phone system and looking for a replacement phone service?
Learning what an analog phone service is and how to use it in a hosted VoIP environment will allow you to get more out of your phone service.
No one wants to struggle with a poor-performing phone service but it can be hard to identify a replacement service that is the right fit for your organization.
With so many phone service options on the market, it can feel overwhelming when looking for a new phone service.
Coeo knows how important the right phone service is to an organization and has helped thousands of customers find the best solution for them.
We want to make sure you know what an analog phone service is and how to use it in a hosted environment so you can have a better-performing phone service.
By the end of this article, you will know what an analog phone service is and how you can use analog lines in a hosted environment.
What is an analog phone service?
Analog phone systems also known as Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS), are phone systems that consist of traditional landlines.
These phone systems take audio signals and translate them into electronic pulses on a wire that is transferred from one line to the next.
The difference between IP-based and analog phone systems is that IP-based phone systems are usually connected through the cloud and use the internet to make and receive calls.
IP-based phone systems break the phone signal into a binary formula and translates audio into codes represented by a series of “1”s and “0”s instead of electronic pulses over a wire.
An analog phone system requires an on-premise PBX with one or multiple phone lines. An on-premise PBX is a physical phone system installed on the premises of the customer and owned by the customer.
A PBX phone system creates an internal phone network for the analog phone service to connect to.
This phone network places all users of the service into a shared phone system allowing your employees to make and receive calls using one network.
Analog phone systems are connected using copper wires on the premises of the customer. These wires are connected to the phone service provider, allowing calls to be made.
How you can use analog lines in a hosted environment
Analog phone systems use outdated technology and are slowly going away in the market. Because of this, it can be difficult to continue using your phone system with technology that is outdated.
In addition, maintaining your analog line phone system will be much more expensive. If your analog phone system has hardware that needs to be replaced, it can be hard to find and because of the scarcity of the hardware, can be expensive.
With this in mind, it is important that you know how to utilize analog lines in a hosted VoIP environment.
● Choose the right hosted provider
The first step to using analog phone lines in a hosted environment is finding the right hosted VoIP provider for your business to work with. Not every hosted provider can support analog phone lines.
Every provider has different capabilities and every phone system is different. It is important to research as many providers as possible so you know which one is the best fit for your specific phone system.
● Connect to a VoIP gateway
After choosing the right provider, you must connect your analog phone lines to a VoIP gateway. This process changes your analog phone lines from an analog signal to an IP-based signal.
By doing this, you can continue to use the same equipment used for your analog lines allowing you to save time and money by not having to completely replace your phone system.
This will allow your managed service provider to manage the process for you so your organization doesn’t have to.
After connecting your analog lines to a VoIP gateway, it is important to connect your VoIP gateway to your Local Area Network (LAN) with access to the internet.
Connecting the VoIP gateway to the LAN allows your analog phone system to transition to an IP-based connection and make and receive calls over the internet.
This connection sends IP-based signals to your VoIP service provider to perform calls over the internet.
● Set up VoIP gateway settings
After connecting your analog lines to the VoIP gateway and then connecting that to your LAN, it is important to set up your VoIP gateway to interact with the VoIP provider you choose to work with.
Giving your provider access will allow you to use their network to make and receive calls.
● Test your phone system
Once the previous steps are complete, your phone service will be operational. However, before finalizing your new phone connection, it is important your organization test it.
Making test calls internally is important to ensure your new phone system is set up and working properly. Once you have tested your phone system and experienced no problems, the system is ready for use.
Next steps to purchasing an analog phone service
Now you know what an analog phone service is, and how to use it in a hosted environment. This will help you improve and update your outdated phone service.
A poor calling service can negatively affect an organization and lead to lost customers resulting in lost revenue.
However, looking for a new calling service can be complicated and time-consuming with all the different options available on the market.
Knowing how to connect your existing analog phone lines to the internet will save you time and money while also improving your phone system.
Coeo has helped thousands of customers with their calling services and knows how important a good calling service is to an organization.
We want to make sure you have information on how you can use analog phone lines in a hosted environment so you can improve the quality of your phone service.
If you would like to speak with our team about analog lines or ask any questions you may have you can schedule an appointment.
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