VoIP gateway solutions

Essentially, VoIP is a technology for transmitting digitized signals over an ethernet/IP network. If the signal originates from the PSTN, a VoIP gateway can use codecs to change the analog signal into data packets and send it to the IP-based phone system. (Kind of like bringing old-school phone networks into the present-day.)

If the voice signal comes from a digital landline (an IP network), a VoIP gateway can also decompress and decode the digital signal and allow the two networks to communicate. GSM gateways convert GSM/3G/4G cellular connections to SIP and provide them as a trunk to an IP-PBX system.

PBX stands for Private Branch Exchange, which traditionally was designed to be like a mini telephone exchange based in your organization. It’s connected to standard phone lines from a local phone service provider. Everyone in the office is linked via a physical handset, and PBX uses extensions to direct calls from your main office number to the handsets.

Today, it’s possible to incorporate VoIP technology into certain types of hosted PBX. Cloud-based or virtual PBX systems have the ability to make calls via the internet using VoIP. The most basic of these systems still use hardware, but this is typically owned and maintained off-site (which is called a “hosted” PBX).

PSTN stands for Public Switched Telephone Network, which is just another name for the traditional phone network. PSTN lines are also called landlines or fixed lines, and they are all linked to local telephone exchanges, which host hundreds of thousands of phone lines within a local area.

POTS stands for Plain Old Telephone Service (or Plain Ordinary Telephone System). This is the copper-wired network that’s been used for more than a hundred years to connect business and home phone systems.

PRI stands for Primary Rate Interface, an end-to-end digital circuit that connects the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) to a server. The server can then be connected to any VoIP phone within the local network. This is how most business phone systems receive voice calls, with multiple numbers and active calls on one connection.

For inbound calls, the PSTN gateway will proxy the calls to Dialpad users and send them to the Dialpad cloud. The Dialpad cloud then rings the call receiver on their software endpoint, which could be a cell phone, laptop, or IP desk phone.

For outbound calls, the user places a call through their Dialpad account. The Dialpad cloud sends the call to the PSTN gateway, which connects the call to the local PSTN.

Yes, you may also hear people refer to other analog VoIP gateways like the FXO gateway, which is a plug on your analog phone that receives POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) from the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). FXO ports let you make and receive calls through PSTN channels—even with no power or Internet connection! An FXS gateway, on the other hand, is the plug on a wall that delivers POTS service from your local phone company. FXS gateways have to be connected to your phones, modems, and fax machines—basically for hooking up analog devices to a VoIP phone system.

You'll need to be on the Enterprise plan to leverage our gateway solutions. This gives you all the features of the Pro plan—including a full VoIP business phone system, plus unlimited video conferencing, SMS, group chat, and hundreds of integrations with other apps.

The Enterprise plan also gives you a 100% uptime SLA, unlimited office locations and ring groups, extensions, and extra integrations. Get in touch to learn more about everything that's included in the Enterprise plan, as well as enhanced onboarding and customer support options!

Absolutely! A VoIP gateway gives you access to internet faxing as well as all the other VoIP features since it uses SIP (session initiation protocol). You can send and receive faxes right from your computer instead of a traditional fax machine—which is also faster and better for the environment!

Integrating fax into your IP telephony solution is a great way to further streamline the number of communication tools you use—especially with a unified solution like Dialpad (which also lets you fax international numbers).

If you’re using Dialpad as your VoIP phone system, you can test your hardware settings right in your browser or app, and run a network assessment test to check the quality of the network cables on all your devices.

Regardless though, a good provider should let you easily monitor and submit VoIP call quality feedback for mobile and desktop. Other tips include using the headsets recommended by your provider, and turning off any unused systems or closing large apps to reduce congestion on the network.

Dialpad’s PBX gateway is available in any country where Dialpad offers service!

Our sales team is available to help answer any questions you may have or help you determine if our gateway solutions are the right fit for your needs. You can also learn more about Dialpad's VoIP phone system here, and browse Dialpad's selection of IP phones and VoIP adapters (if you need them).