VoIP Terms – What are people talking about?

When it comes to Voice over IP, some people think of the complicated technology that’s too difficult to understand, others even start dozing when the topic arises. However, VoIP is actually more fun than you think.

In the VoIP industry, we use many special, interesting terms to describe and explain the complex concepts. Let’s learn the trending VoIP terms and understand what people are talking about!

Huddle Room

Huddle room usually refers to a small room in a company where a group of people can get together and have meetings for business matters. Because members in the room stay close together, therefore, we call it “huddle” room.

AC Adaptor

We all know that AC could mean “air conditioner”, however, AC adaptor’s full name is “Alternating Current” adaptor. It is a type of external power supply that is used to power or charge your electronic devices.

SideCar

Sidecar normally means an extra seat added next to your motorcycle in order to accommodate more passengers. However, in VoIP world, it means a VoIP extension module that provides an extension field and associated scripts for VoIP.

Cloud Service

Just like the clouds in the sky that you can see from almost everywhere, Cloud Service allows  you to access to your system from anywhere with a network connection. It’s a service that are available on demand to users via the Internet from a cloud computing server.

BYOD

You may have heard BYOB – Bring Your Own Beer. BYOD is a similar idea, except this time, you are bringing in your own “device”. BYOD is an abbreviation of Bring Your Own Device. Some VoIP providers let users use their existing SIP-ready device for their service.

Hot Desking

Hot desking has nothing to do with the real temperature of the desk. It is an office space sharing system where multiple employees share the same desk or workstation during different time periods. When it’s your turn to work, you can probably still feel the warmth from the last worker which is why it’s named “hot desking”.

Soft/ Hard Phone

A softphone is an application that allows users to generate calls through a computer via the Internet. A hard phone is a hardware SIP phone that functions like a traditional phone but it makes calls through the IP network instead of PSTN lines.

Hop Off

Hop off refers to a point or gateway at which a call moves from an H.323 network to a network that uses some other protocol. The movement is similar to the action of a jump or hop.

Have you heard all the terms mentioned above? What other terms have you heard or used? Share with us!