Confused about Telecoms? Our jargon-free explainer

In the technology world, it’s easy to get carried away with acronyms, confusing product numbers and tech speak that many people won’t understand.

As a company, ElemenTel tries to remove the threat of miscommunication and misunderstanding by talking to our clients without jargon and confusing tech lingo.

We’ve put together a short guide to some of the terms you’re most likely to hear in the telecoms world, and explained them a little bit more simply.

Telecommunications

Let’s start off simple. There are plenty of ways to communicate with people all over the globe, but whenever you pick up a phone and dial a number to get through to someone, that’s you utilising telecommunications.

Growing in usage all over the world over the last half a century, you’re now likely to find a handful of telecoms devices in every home and office across the country.

VoIP

VoIP, short for “voice over Internet Protocol,” is the technology responsible for allowing calls over the internet. Rising in popularity over the last decade alongside the improvement of broadband connections, now seen as a vital method of communication for many businesses, big and small.

Whilst you’re still able to make calls the same as a traditional phone, you’re often able to benefit from plenty of other features. These include CRM integrations, calendar integrations, call logging and call tracking.

Fibre optic connections

They’re not just found in Christmas trees. Fibre optic cabling is the reason much of the UK has very fast and reliable internet connections. As it becomes commonplace and society demands more data faster, fibre optic is seen as the best route forwards.

Made from thin strands of glass, it relays light pulses rather than electrical current. This means information is transmitted faster and less power is lost in the process, shooting data over longer distances with increased reliability.

Bandwidth

Bandwidth is the maximum amount of data which can be sent through a network at any given time. The more bandwidth you have, the faster a person can do things on the Internet.

For businesses, a broadband connection is often sufficient. But sometimes we recommend that companies invest in a leased line. This removes the concern of limited bandwidth during peak times and promises top speeds at all times. Read more here.

Access point

This is the hardware that acts as a connection portal for devices that want to connect to your network. Most commonly this will be a wireless router.

Your access point is the hub that brings all of your devices together and distributes your connection to them.

In a business setting, your access point could also be the device that allows for a link between routers and local area networks (LANs) to enable device connections.

Jargon isn’t fun. We make great IT support simple.

We know it’s not always easy to understand tech speak. As a company, ElemenTel prioritises making the complex simple to comprehend.

If you’ve still got a question – we’d love to chat with you. You can contact us right now to chat to an expert.