Business Phone System Basics
Telephone Terms and definitions

A business phone is NOT a telephone. It looks like a phone and plugs in like a phone, but it works completely different! Unfortunately the same plugs were used on home phones and business phones but that is where the similarities end.

Try to think of your business phone as a computer monitor and the KSU (control box) as the computer. Your computer can only have one monitor but your phone system can have many business phones. Each phone can get different information but it is all controlled at the KSU. When a call comes into the KSU, the KSU acts like a multi-line phone. The programming in the KSU will determine which business phone will react when a call comes in. 

When a call comes in, the KSU will see the line ring, look at it's programming instructions and then use it's own special signal to tell the phone(s) to ring. A regular phone rings when it receives a 90v AC 30hz pulse from the phone company, a business phone rings when it receives a certain set of 1's and 0's from the KSU (usually 5-12v DC) Guess what happens when a business phone, designed for 5 volts, gets a 90v AC 30hz pulse? (The good news is you can send it to us for repair instead of throwing it away!)

When you press any button on a business telephone it sends a signal to the KSU. The KSU then looks at its programming to see what that button should do. If an LED is lit up on your phone, the KSU has sent a signal to the phone telling it to light that LED. Another words, your business phone is basically nothing but a speaker, a handset, and a bunch of buttons and lights. It has no brain and will not function at all on it's own.

There are exceptions to all of this and it depends a lot on which phone system you have. However, most systems work in at least a similar way to the above statements. Also, some systems can handle single line devices in special ports. They use their own power converter or power supply to send a 90v AC signal that makes a regular phone ring.

A phone system will only work with the phones it was designed to use!
You can not put Comdial phones on a Lucent phone system
You can not put Comdial Unisyn phones on a Comdial Impact system
You can not use the same wiring for all phone systems
You can't even use the same line cords and handset cords on some systems!

Analog / Digital??

Unfortunately these terms are used rather loosely. Analog is when a signal is transmitted with a wave signal, Digital is when that wave signal is broken down into 1's and 0's, transmitted, then the 1's and 0's are built back into a wave. Many people get confused and think their phone system is digital when it is not. Others call "Single Line Ports" analog. A single line port on a phone system is a port that can handle regular home phones, fax, computer modem, answering machine etc.. Both analog and digital systems can have single line ports. Digital systems do not have "analog" ports unless you are referring to a port that can handle an older analog phone made for an older version of the same manufacturer's phone system. The reason for the confusion is that a digital system needs to convert the signal to analog on their single line ports because all home phone devices are built to receive analog signals. "Single Line" is often shortened to SL or S/L in descriptions.

Voice Mail

Some phone systems have a built in voice mail however most systems, especially older systems have an external voice mail if they have a voice mail at all. (You can also have voice mail through your local phone service provider) A system can have a voice mail made by the same company as the system or it could have a generic voice mail system. These external voice mail systems have ports and storage space. (For example: 4 port, 40 hour) The number of ports tell you how many people can be listening or leaving messages at the same time, the storage is how many recorded prompts and messages it can hold. Most external voice mail systems require single line ports on your phone system, a 4 port voice mail would require 4 single line ports. Many older systems can not have single line ports and therefore can not have voice mail. Also, many systems require single line expansion cards or adaptors to get the ports required. A voice mail that answers calls and a recording prompts the caller to dial 1 for sales, 2 for service is called an auto attendant. Most voice mails also have auto attendant capability. Most external voice mails need to be programmed completely separately from the phone system. The phone system has to be programmed to work correctly with the voice mail and the voice mail has to be programmed to work correctly with the system.