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| Home Telephone Service |
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Most people are quite
familiar with their home telephone service. Typically, a household has
multiple telephones that share a single line. This means that if someone is
on the telephone in your kitchen and you pick up the telephone in your
bedroom, then you can hear their conversation. Likewise, if you would like
to use the telephone, then you must wait until they have completed their
call. These characteristics exist because: |
- Normal home telephone wiring is in
a home run (star) or continuous loop configuration (see illustrations
below)
- Most home telephones are
single line (i.e. they can only accommodate one incoming line)
- Most households only
subscribe to a single telephone line or number
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| Business Telephone Systems |
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Businesses have different
requirements than home users. Most businesses need multiple telephone lines
to handle more than one incoming or outgoing call at a time. Employees also
need the ability to make calls to external parties as well as call other
employees within the business. For example, front office personnel may need
to make an outgoing call to a vendor or supplier, and they may also need to
communicate with a manager in the warehouse. These basic requirements are
solved by installing a business phone system. |
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A major difference between
your home telephone and a business phone system occurs in the wiring
configuration. Unlike home telephone service, the incoming line wiring
for a phone system does not terminate directly at each telephone. The
lines must first be connected to a processor or control unit and then
extension/station wiring is run to each system telephone. |
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| The processor contains the
“brains” of the business phone system and provides the majority of its
features. Some basic features include: |
- Providing users with
access to multiple incoming/outgoing calls over multiple lines
- Allowing users to
intercom or call other users within the business
- Providing users with
features like transfer, hold, and conference
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Current business phones
systems also provide a variety of advanced features such as: |
- Group coverage
- Call coverage
- Voicemail
- Automated attendant
- Music on hold
- Group paging
- External paging
- Access restriction
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