Faqs

IP Telephony is a technology that allows voice traffic to be sent over a data network. With a broadband Internet connection and subscribing to a provider such as Tpad allows you to make and receive phone calls over the Internet.

There are several advantages to IP over a traditional phone service, such as, price, portability, and extra features. Tpad offer call packages that allow inclusive minutes for calls to selected destinations at one low monthly fee. A person can pick a number, rather than be locked into certain area codes and prefixes. Many features are offered as part of the basic monthly fee, such as call waiting, call forwarding, voicemail, call forwarding on busy etc.

You will need a connection with a speed of at least 128 kbps to ensure good call quality. There are few reasons for this:

• To make an uncompressed IP call, you will need at least 64 kbps download plus 64 kbps upload bandwidth. If not you will have to compress your IP traffic using compression codecs such as G.729, this can decrease the bandwidth to around 30 kbps. These compression methods are normally used in when multiple calls are going over the same connection, not when bandwidth is less than 128 kbps. If you have dial-up you will be very fortunate to achieve decent call quality even when using compression.

  Connection	Contention	Concurrent Calls
  ADSL Max 8MB/s	2:1	7-8
  ADSL2+ 24MB/s	2:1	9-10
  SDSL 1MB/s	1:1	13-14
  SDSL 2MB/s	1:1	22-24

• A broadband connection is always on, which means that you can receive and make calls with minimum interruption.
• You must also make sure that you have enough bandwidth left over for typical Internet use, such as web browsing, emails and downloading files.

What is a CODEC? A codec is a device or computer program capable of encoding and/or decoding a digital data stream or signal.

Tpad are able to port most UK geographic numbers from the following providers BT and Virgin Media We are also able to port 08 numbers from BT, as well as International numbers from certain destinations, however, restrictions may apply.

This is when your telephone number is moved from one provider to another provider.

IP-PBX is a Private Branch Exchange that switches calls between a traditional telephone user or between two traditional telephone users in the same way that a conventional PBX does but can switch calls over IP or VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol), normally it will use Ethernet IP connections throughout the organization much in the same way that PCs connect to the LAN.

A Hosted PBX is an IP business phone system where the PBX resides with Tpad. A hosted PBX can save significant upfront hardware charges because the PBX software/hardware sits remotely at Tpad's facility and connection is made through the Internet.

The main advantage of a hosted PBX is the huge reduction in upfront costs. The usual hardware needed would be IP phones which would connect to the Internet through a router. Tpad will maintain the software and servers and provide technical support.

SIP trunks enable enterprises to utilise a single Internet connection for making and receiving multiple concurrent telephone calls, a virtual ISDN.

The quality is normally better, but it will depend on many factors like bandwidth, Internet connections over the routed call, and the codec being used by the provider.

If you do lose power it can cause your Internet connection to go down. If this happens you will not be able to make calls unless you are equipped with a back up UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply), which should allow an Internet connection to be maintained for a short duration and suffice for short local outages.

A virtual number allows your businesses to have a presence in different locations in the UK and abroad. This can connect callers to you by dialling a local number and they will not incur long distance charges.

Emergency calling access is available with Tpad, once users have registered a UK mainland address, excluding users located in the Channel Islands or Isle of Man.

We have IP communications solutions designed specifically for Call Centres, so they have available features such as wallboard, queue tracking, agent login etc. Our call centre solutions come as both a Hosted option and onsite version.