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| VoIP Gateway Solutions - VoIP Gateways |
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A VoIP gateway is a device for connecting a VoIP PBX to traditional telephone circuits such as analog phone lines or digital T1/E1 circuits. Digital VoIP gateways typically have one to four T1/E1 ports for connecting to the VoIP PBX. An analog VoIP gateway typically has four to twenty four analog ports. Some analog gateways are available with both FXO ports (for connecting to analog phone lines) and FXS ports (for connecting analog telephones). These VoIP gateways convert the analog signal into voice over IP and send it to the VoIP PBX.
To read our VoIP Gateway Buyer's Guide browse to the bottom of this page.
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VoIP Gateway Buyer's Guide
An VoIP Gateway (IP Gateway) is a device that is used to connect your VoIP PBX (IP PBX) system to traditional phone circuits such as POTS (analog phone lines) and PRIs (digital phone circuits). With an IP Gateway, the phone circuit is converted into Voice over IP and transported over an Ethernet data connection to the PBX. This means the gateway device can be just as easily located across the office or across the city, or even across the country.
While any IP PBX system can use these devices as gateways to phone circuits they are usually chosen when a system cannot support PCI interface cards or when the phone circuits are not easily extended to where the PBX us going to be located such as the phone circuits in the old phone closet and the new IP PBX in the data center area in a cabinet with the other corporate servers. In this case, IP Gateways are an excellent choice.
Analog gateways connect typically between four and twenty four phone lines while digital gateways typically have one to four T1/E1 ports. On both types of devices there is an ethernet port for connecting to the data network. There are few analog gateways that have both FXO (connects to phone lines) and FXS (for connecting analog phone lines) ports.
Audiocodes
Audiocodes is known for their top notch voice quality affordable per-port cost. Offering a nice selection of analog products from 4 ports to 24 ports (see product page for FXO/FXS configurations) there is an Audiocode product to suite your needs. Audiocodes also has a line of digital interfaces which are ideal for connecting to BRI circuits.
Dialogic
If you have been around telephony for a long time than you know the Dialogic brand goes back many years. Dialog is known for creating best-in-class products backed by world class support. The Dialogic products are certainly not low-cost leaders but they really deliver on performance and quality. Dialog makes four and eight port FXO gateways as well as gateways to other systems such as Avaya, Nortel, Siemens, ROLM and others. On the digital side Dialogic has gateways with one, two, or four E1/T1 ports.
Grandstream
While much better known for their IP phones and ATA devices, Grandstream also has a line of inexpensive IP gateways with extremely low per-port cost points. Available in four, eight, or twenty-four ports and the GXW41xx series also has ports to connect to video survelliance systems. The Grandstream devices are the lowest priced devices and are some of the easiest to configure.
Astribank
The most unique IP gateways available, if you can truely even call them IP gateways are the Astribank channel banks from Xorcom. What makes the Xorcom Astribanks unique is that they connect to your PBX via USB instead of an ethernet connection. Using the USB port means that the phone calls are not carried over your existing data network which can be a security issue for some people while the downside is that the Astribank will need to be physically close to the PBX for the USB cable to reach. Xorcom Astribanks are available in the widest array of configurations and have an excellent per-port cost. The flexibility and available options make the Astribanks real winners while the limitations of USB distance may be a showstopper for some installations.
Mediatrix
Founded by engineers that specialized in high end audio cards, the Mediatrix gateways are known for their exceptional voice quality. Mediatrix also has a very broad product line with two, four, eight, sixteen, and twenty-four analog ports and full range of digital products for both E1/T1 and BRI configurations. With excellent voice quality and a good per-port price, the Mediatrix devices are always a good bet.
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