Analog, digital, SIP, VoIP. Where do you start? The business telephone system is every changing as technology changes. Ensure your telephone systems are up to date with the latest telephony features.

As a technology, analog is the process of taking an audio or video signal (in most cases, the human voice) and translating it into electronic pulses. Digital on the other hand is breaking the signal into a binary format where the audio or video data is represented by a series of “1”s and “0”s. Simple enough when it’s the device—analog or digital phone, fax, modem, or likewise—that does all the converting for you. Review your telephone systems every 3-5 years.

Is one technology better than the other? Analog technology has been around for decades. It’s not that complicated a concept and it’s fairly inexpensive to use. That’s why we can buy a $20 telephone or watch a few TV stations with the use of a well-placed antenna. The trouble is, analog signals have size limitations as to how much data they can carry. So with our $20 phones and inexpensive TVs, we only get so much. Does your business telephone system have maintenance? If you system goes down do you have protection, the average cost of downtime is £2400 per day!

Enter digital

The newer of the two, digital technology breaks your voice (or television) signal into binary code—a series of 1s and 0s—transfers it to the other end where another device (phone, modem or TV) takes all the numbers and reassembles them into the original signal. The beauty of digital is that it knows what it should be when it reaches the end of the transmission. That way, it can correct any errors that may have occurred in the data transfer. What does all that mean to you? Clarity. In most cases, you’ll get distortion-free conversations and clearer TV pictures. Business telephone systems are now going digital, consider a cloud/ VoIP solution today.

When you’re shopping in the telecom world, you often see products touted as “all digital.” Or warnings such as “analog lines only.” What does it mean? The basic analog and digital technologies vary a bit in definition depending on how they’re implemented. Read on. Telephone systems are critical for business success, ensure you have the latest features.

Phone lines

A word of caution. Though digital lines carry lower voltages than analog lines, they still pose a threat to your analog equipment. If you’re thinking of connecting your phone, modem, or fax machine to your office’s digital phone system, DON’T! At the very least, your equipment may not function properly. In the worst case, you could zap your communications tools into oblivion.

What to do? There are digital-to-analog adapters that not only let you use analog equipment in a digital environment, but also safeguard against frying the internal circuitry of your phone, fax, modem, or laptop. Some adapters manufactured by Konexx come designed to work with one specific piece of office equipment: phone, modem, laptop, or teleconferencer. Simply connect the adapter in between your digital line and your analog device. That’s it. Or you can try a universal digital-to-analog adapter such as Hello Direct’s LineStein®. It works with any analog communications device. Plus, it’s battery powered so you’re not running extra cords all over your office.

Cordless phones
The very nature of digital technology—breaking a signal into binary code and recreating it on the receiving end—gives you clear, distortion-free cordless calls. Cordless phones with digital technology are also able to encrypt all those 1s and 0s during transmission so your conversation is safe from eavesdroppers. Plus, more power can be applied to digital signals and thus, you’ll enjoy longer range on your cordless phone conversations. Cordless business telephone systems are also becoming popular for mobile businesses, does your business need handsets that can work in & outside of the office?

Keep in mind, when talking about digital and analog cordless phones, you’re talking about the signals being transferred between the handset and its base. The phones themselves are still analog devices that can only be used on analog lines. Also, the range of your cordless phone—analog or digital—will always depend on the environment.

Cellular phones
Perhaps the most effective use of the digital versus analog technology is in the booming cellular market. With new phone activations increasing exponentially, the limits of analog are quickly being realized. Digital cellular lets significantly more people use their phones within a single coverage area. More data can be sent and received simultaneously by each phone user. Plus, transmissions are more resistant to static and signal fading. And with the all-in-one phones out now—phone, pager, voice mail, internet access—digital phones offer more features than their analog predecessors. Did you know that telephone systems make up 45% of your business operations.

Analog’s sound quality is still superior—as some users with dual-transmission phones will manually switch to analog for better sound when they’re not concerned with a crowded coverage area—but digital is quickly becoming the norm in the cellular market.

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