1.2.12 Data and Voice Network Transmission Technologies

Data and voice transmission technologies include both analog and digital connections. Analog connections are slower but may be less expensive. Digital connections are faster and more expensive. However, your selection of analog or digital transmission technologies will be based more on the number of telephone lines you require or the amount of bandwidth you need than the cost of the solution. That which is expensive to a small company is considered normal for larger companies because they are dealing with a greater volume of business and communications.

When placing calls outside of your internal network, the calls may be routed out through analog or digital ports, which are covered in the following sections. Analog ports manage individual channels. Digital ports manage multiple channels, such as ISDN, T1, or E1 connections. Even a multichannel connection will connect to a single port on a typical gateway. For example, a T1 line may be a full T1 line with 24 channels, but it connects to a single port that looks much like an Ethernet port on the router. The channels are separated using time slices or frequency differences, but they all run on the same wires.