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Bridgman Communications, Inc.
Telephone Technology Leaders
Resources
Customer Resources
Bridgman Communications will keep the resources area of our website updated with information to equip the customer with the necessary knowledge needed to utilize their telephone system equipment and peripherals and important industry data to assist when enhancements and new technologies are required.
Industry Buzz Words
Glossary of Common Telecom Terms
Analog Line
Also know as a POTS line (Plain Old Telephone Service). The original phone line delivered via electrical voltages over two wires (labeled as tip and ring) over a closed continuous end to end circuit.
Auto-Attendant
(AA) The automated attendant can replace the need for a receptionist. Callers can be automatically transferred to an extension using a number or dial-by-name feature. They can also detect whether a user is in our out of the office and can forward calls respectively.
CLEC
Competitive Local Exchange Carrier is a telecom provider or "carrier" that competes with the pre-existing Local Exchange Carriers (ILEC).
CPU
(Central Processing Unit) is a generic term for either a server or the main computing components of a server, PC or other computing device. The part of the computer performs the logic and decision making functions of the system.
DID
(Direction Inward Dial) is a feature delivered by your telco carrier that provides you the ability to give each employee, phone or fax its own dedicated 10 digit number that can be dialed directly and not transferred by on operator or Automated Attendant.
DSL
(Digital Subscriber Line) is a generic name for a data service provided by CLEC and telco. This data service call allow for up to 8 millions bits per second downstream "headed towards you" and a slower rate upstream, or outgoing. This is a common type of service used for connections to the internet
Dial Tone
The warm fuzzy sound you hear when you first pick up the receiver and place it to your ear. If you don't hear dial tone, you don't have phone line service.
Digital Line
A line or circuit where the transmission method being used is a string of data or "0's" and "1's" or "bits" that form a string of "bytes" that make up the data being transmitted over that line. A few of the typical digital line in use are T-1 Circuits and PRI Circuits.
A 3 Mb data line is a data line that transmits at a speed of 3 Megabits, this would be twice a fast as T-1 line that transmits at approximately 1.5 Mb
Ethernet
A local area network standard officially known as IEEE 802.X (with X being the identifier of one of the many sub-headings under this standard to denote data speeds, type of media used (wired, fiber or copper, wireless, etc) Two the most common are 802.3 denoting a wired Ethernet network and 802.11 denoting a wireless network.
Hunt Group
(1) A group of lines in a group that act as one number with multiple communications channels so that one number can be used for a caller to reach a group of people who can help that caller. (2) A group of phones or agents that handle the same type of calls as in a customer service group or help desk.
Hunting
The terms used to describe two or more lines that work in a "roll over" fashion. For example, if you have 3 lines in your business; one is the main published number and the other two may be additional lines to handle the simultaneous incoming traffic. You only publish the first number and when the line is busy or in use the next incoming call with "hunt" or "roll over" to the 2nd line and 3rd line to be answered.
IEEE
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers creates standards for networking and wireless communications. It is an international non-profit, professional organization for the advancement of technology related to electricity.
IVR
(Interactive Voice Response) The generic term for a machine (hardware and software on a server) that will interface to a phone line and provide an inbound caller to gather information about accounts, orders, etc. For example: Dial 1 for account balance.
Jitter
Jitter is described as variability in latency or delay. It a network has varying levels of latency (different waiting times) for different data packets, it can/will introduce jitter. Jitter is very disruptive to the audio quality of a VoIP network system. A lot of jitter is not a good thing for a VoIP network or system.
LAN
(Local Area Network) A generic name for a data network connection, computers, PCs workstations, printers, faxes, etc; so that they can communicate with each other. Most LAN's are configured to work using one of the Ethernet protocols.
Latency
A term used to describe waiting time or delay; the time it takes information or data to make its way through a particular network. VoIP is very sensitive to latency and delay; either of which will affect the voice quality of the network or system. Latency is not a good thing for VoIP.
Local Area Network
(LAN) A generic name for a data network connection, computers, PCs workstations, printers, faxes, et all; so that they can communicate with each other. Most LAN's are configured to work using one of the Ethernet protocols
POTS
(Plain Old Telephone Service) The original phone line delivered via electrical voltages over two wires (labeled as tip and ring) over a closed continuous end to end circuit. Also See Analog Line.
PSTN
(Public Switched Telephone Network) is the phone network and is the sum of all that the telco provides including delivering voice lines, phone numbers, etc. PSTN delivers the actual lines and phone numbers to your door.
QoS
(Quality of Service) is a measure of the level of service quality provided by a telecommunications provider or device. If a router, for example, can provide QoS functionality, it can be programmed or tuned to deliver voice packets ahead of data packets and provide a better voice quality.
Router
A router is an intelligent data device that connects like and unlike networks. LAN's, WAN's use routers to connect to each other and to the Internet or other public or private data circuits. Routers typically are loaded with a public IP address that will allow it to function as the gateway for one network connecting to another. For example, a typical business will have a router as their data connection to the Internet.
Switch
This word has many meanings when it comes to communications. For one, it describes the process of transferring a call from one circuit to another (as in to switch a call, hence the term switchboard operator). Another common meaning is as a generic term for a network connection device used to connect other network components, (printers, PCs, etc) to each other. These switches will carry names that denote the speed at which they can operate. For example a 100Mb switch can deliver data 10 times faster than a 10MB switch.
Telco or Telco Carrier
The term used to describe a service provider such as Qwest, XO, AT&T, etc. <
span id="bold">VoIP
(Voice Over Internet Protocol) The technology used to transmit voice conversations over a data network using the Internet Protocol (IP). Such data network may be their Internet or a corporate Intranet (LAN or WAN).
WAN
(Wide Area Network) is a public or private voice or data network that extends either beyond one physical location or a metropolitan area like a branch office in a different city, for example.
WLAN
(Wireless Local Area Network) is a link created between two or more computers without using wires.
Wi-Fi is Wireless technology
Greeting Scripts for Voicemail and Auto-Attendants
We've posted some samples of scripts that you can record for your phone system and voice mail messages. We will assist in creating custom scripts, setting up hold music, or assisting in the selection of professional voices.
Day Greetings
Night Greetings
Voicemail Greetings
Overflow Message
Day Greeting Scripts
Script 1
Thank you for calling _________________________________.
If you know your party's extension, you may enter it at any time during this recording.
For a company directory by first name, press the pound key or remain on the line for assistance.
Script 2
Thank you for calling _________________________________.
You have reached us after hours. Our regular business hours are Monday thru Friday from ___________ to ___________.
If you know your party's extensions, you may enter it at any time.
For a dial by first name company directory press the # key.
For a dial by last name directory, press 9.
Otherwise please choose from one of the following options:
For Sales press 2
For Customer Service press 3
For billing inquiries press 4
For Accounts Receivable press 5
Otherwise you may press 0 or remain on the line for the Receptionist
Script 3
Thank you for calling _________________________________.
You may press zero at any time during the recording (or announcement) to reach an operator.
If you know your party's extension, you may enter it at any time during this recording.
For a company directory, press the pound key, or you may choose from the following options:
For Service (ie) __________ Press 2
For __________ Press 3
For __________ Press 4
And so on...
45064 Underwood Lane, Suite 100, Dulles VA | (703) 471-4700 | Mon - Fri 9 AM - 5 PM
Need support?
Call (703) 471-4700
Bridgman Communications, Inc.
Telephone Technology Leaders
