Connect up to eight voice/fax analog calls to VoIP.
Connect up to eight voice/fax analog calls to VoIP.
Multiport Analog VoIP Gateway Routers
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FEATURES
• Transparently connect your analog
phones and fax machines to VoIP.
• Combines voice and data traffic for
routing over your IP network or the
Internet.
• Sized for use in enterprise
environments.
Transparently connect up to
eight analog phones plus a PC
to the Internet.
OVERVIEW
Multiport VoIP Gateway Routers combine voice and data
traffic for for routing over any IP network.
They enable you to transparently connect up to eight
analog phones and fax machines to VoIP. Because these
routers work with ordinary analog devices, there’s no need
to buy special IP telephones—just use the phones and fax
machines you already have.
Models with FXO ports also connect to the local PSTN
for backup in case your network connection goes out, so you
can call special numbers such as emergency 911.
All models feature dual autosensing 10-/100-Mbps
Ethernet ports.
Total VoIP connectivity.
Multiport VoIP Gateway Routers are full-featured VoIP
gateways featuring SIP as well as H.323v4 signaling.
They offer up to eight FXS ports and two or four FXO
ports. FXS analog ports connect any analog phone or PBX and
provide services such as dial-tone, ringing, and Caller ID. FXO
ports access the local PSTN for backup.
The routers are smart and adaptable, too! Telephony over
IP (ToIP) enables them to handle calls based on variables such
as hunt groups, Caller ID, Called ID, and time of day. And of
course, they provide all basic phone services such as dial tone
and ringing.
The routers provide advanced Quality of Service (QoS)
and traffic management. QoS provides clear voice throughput
every time by prioritizing VoIP packets on your network.
Voice priority and traffic shaping ensure optimal up- and
downstream voice quality.
It’s a secure router, too!
VoIP Gateway Routers are capable enterprise routers that
connect both voice and data to the WAN through a single
secure device. They support full IP routing with IPSEC, PPPoE,
DHCP, NAT, and VLAN tagging.
DNS maps domain and host names and IP addresses,
enabling you to “hide” your real IP address from the Internet.
An access control list enables you to control who can get into
your network.
IPSEC VPN sets up secure virtual “tunnels” that protect
your data and keep private calls private.
PPPoE encapsulates PPP frames inside Ethernet frames,
enabling the router to establish a link from one machine to
another over an IP network and then transport data packets
over the connection. PPP enables services such as user
authentication and usage metering that are missing from the
Ethernet protocol.
DES, 3DES, and AES encryption keeps out unwanted
users when you send data over the Internet.
Easy setup and management.
VoIP Gateway Routers are quite straightforward to set up.
Just connect one of the dual 10/100 Ethernet ports to your
LAN. The ports automatically sense and adjust to network
speed and duplex as well as cable pinning.
Configure and manage the router through any standard
Web browser, SNMP, or through Telnet using a command
line interface.
Stay connected to the PSTN.
VoIP Gateway Routers with both FXS and FXO ports
(VOE235A–VOE236A, VOE238A) enable you to access your
local analog PSTN telephone service as well as your Ethernet
nework. The router automatically falls back to your analog
voice line if your network goes out.
You can also program the router to choose the PSTN or
the network, depending on which number is dialed. This
enables you to retain emergency 911 service and to route only
certain calls—to your branch offices, for instance—through
the IP network. Telephony over IP (ToIP) provides real-time
PSTN and VoIP call switching for any PBX, switch, or phone.
Multiport VoIP Gateway
Router (VOE231A)
VoIP Phones
Headquarters
PCs
LAN
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VoIP.
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a cost-saving
alternative to traditional telephone service that enables voice
data to be transported over IP networks, like the Internet,
instead of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) or
a cellular network.
VoIP, which operates strictly over IP networks, can connect
to other VoIP nodes or traditional phone lines. The IP network
used may be the Internet or a private network.
In either instance, the actual data-transport portion of this
network can still be made up of the full gamut of network
services: high-speed leased lines, Frame Relay, ATM, DSL,
copper, fiber, wireless, satellite, and microwave signals. VoIP
simply digitizes voice data and adds it to other information
traveling along the same network.
With this technology, a phone call can be placed between
two PCs, between a PC and a standard telephone, between
a PC and an IP phone, between an IP phone and a standard
telephone, or between two IP phones. It will take a long time
for the PSTN to support this technology seamlessly, but this
seems to be the direction in which phone systems are headed.
Benefits of VoIP
Because VoIP is inexpensive, has a worldwide reach, and
operates on a few simple principles, it’s exploded in popularity
recently—especially among both small and large businesses
that incur significant long-distance telephone expenses.
Savings
Without question, the primary benefit of a VoIP system
is decreasing or eliminating long-distance telephone charges.
Organizations with a high volume of long-distance voice
traffic stand to save quite a lot of money by implementing
a VoIP system. However, this factor alone may not warrant a
full commitment to VoIP for some companies.
Setup fees for VoIP are usually quite low so your
organization can generally start saving money after only a
month or two of service. And with the wide variety of VoIP
products and services on the market, it’s easier than ever
to set up a VoIP phone system over your network.
Convenience
VoIP can be set up in a way that enables you to use phone
numbers in exactly the same way as you did before VoIP. Most
of the services you get with traditional phone service—Voice
Mail, Call Waiting, and Call Routing, for instance—are also
available with VoIP.
VoIP doesn’t interfere with other network services either,
so you can surf the Web while making a VoIP call.
Portability
VoIP doesn’t tie you to one phone or to a single location.
Anywhere you find high-speed, reliable Internet access, you
can use VoIP. Your phone number stays the same wherever
you are—office, home, hotel, or even traveling overseas.
Standards
Although the ITU standards for VoIP have evolved
significantly in the last few years, VoIP is still suffering from
a lack of generally accepted interoperability standards.
H.323, a standard for real-time audio, video, and data
communications across IP-based networks (including the
Internet), is almost universally accepted as the primary
standard for VoIP call setup and signaling. It’s actually a
collection of standards that works together for sending
multimedia and data over networks that don’t provide
guaranteed Quality of Service (QoS).
The H.323 standard includes:
Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP) specifies end-to-end
network transport functions for applications transmitting realtime data such as video. RTP provides services like payload
type identification, sequence numbering, time stamping, and
delivery monitoring to real-time applications. Plus, it works
with RTCP.
Real-time Transport Control Protocol (RTCP) works with
RTP to provide a feedback mechanism, providing QoS status
and control information to the streaming server.
Registration, Admission, Status (RAS) is a gateway protocol
that manages functions such as signaling, registration,
admissions, bandwidth changes, status, and disengage
procedures.
Q.931 manages call setup and termination.
H.245 negotiates channel usage and capabilities.
H.235 provides security and authentication.
As VoIP product manufacturers began conducting
interoperability tests for more complex operations, they
recognized that they needed a simpler and more adaptable
standard for call handling and signaling protocol.
To this end, the IETF developed the Session Initiation
Protocol (SIP). SIP is built with less computer code than H.323
is, so it’s less cumbersome. Because SIP is similar in nature to
HTML—it uses ASCII text for configuration—users can adapt
it more easily for specific VoIP systems. In contrast, modifying
H.323 for VoIP applications requires a knowledgeable
computer programmer.
Both H.323 and SIP are considered “thick clients,” where
intelligence is maintained in the end devices such as IP
telephones. In this respect, H.323 has a head start, although
most VoIP systems today support both H.323 and SIP.
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Technically Speaking
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Providers
Despite the fact that VoIP standards are still developing,
providers are already flooding the market with products and
services while forming partnerships and matching expertise
to strengthen their position in this new market. The biggest
of these players and alliances—the ones who have the size
and experience to grasp technical issues and quickly build
infrastructures over which to offer VoIP services— are able
to keep up with (and often influence) the continual changes
in this market and keep rolling out new services.
Components
A VoIP system depends on devices that connect your
traditional phone or phone system to an IP network.
Components that you’ll see in a VoIP system include:
• End-user devices
• Gateways or gatekeepers
• IPBXs
• IP Networks
End-user devices are usually VoIP telephones or PCs
running VoIP software. End-user devices have their own IP
address and make a direct connection to the IP network.
A gateway is a device that converts circuit-switched analog
voice calls from a traditional PBX into VoIP packets and
transmits them over an IP network either to another gateway
or directly to an end-user device.
A gateway can have additional features such as voice
compression, echo cancellation, and packet prioritization.
Because VoIP-enabled end-user devices can communicate
directly with each other over an IP network, a gateway is not
a required component of a VoIP system as long as the VoIP
devices are connected directly to the IP network.
An IPBX is a PBX with a built-in gateway. IPBX systems are
equipped for hundreds of telephone ports, with WAN support
for trunk connections to the PSTN, and with high-speed IP
WAN links. In addition to VoIP features, these systems usually
include other features typical of traditional PBX systems such
as music on hold, auto-attendant, and call management.
Often, they include Ethernet ports to support VoIP
telephones.
VoIP can be set up with or without a connection to
standard PSTN phone service. You can, of course, place calls
over the Internet directly from your PC or IP phone to another
VoIP-enabled device. But what makes VoIP so versatile is that,
through the use of a gateway service, it can also be used to
call the numbers of phones connected to standard land-line
or cellular phone services. They can also receive calls from
standard telephones.
Not all fun and free calls
There are still things to consider when you’re deciding
whether or not to invest in VoIP.
Regulation vagaries: Much of the government regulation
of VoIP is still being worked out. The U.S. government hasn’t
decided whether VoIP is going to be regulated as phone
service or whether to tax it. VoIP isn’t available in all countries.
Compatibility: Although older VoIP equipment may still
have some compatibility issues, current VoIP products from
different vendors generally work together.
Cost: For all the popular talk about VoIP being free, it
isn’t truly free. Any VoIP system has costs associated with its
implementation—equipment, high-speed Internet access,
and gateway service.
QoS: VoIP depends on having a fast, reliable network
to operate. A fast network connection with guaranteed
bandwidth is not a problem in a corporate intranet where
you have complete control over the network. However, if
you’re using the Internet for VoIP, you’re using a public
network that may be subject to slowdowns that cause dropouts and distortion. You may find that your high-speed
Internet connection is faster than the actual Internet and that
the quality of your connection is generally unacceptable or is
unacceptable at times when Internet usage is high.
Emergency services
If you subscribe to a VoIP gateway service that enables you
to use your VoIP phone like a regular phone, be aware that
you may not be able to call 911 for emergencies. If 911 service
is important to you because you don’t have an alternative way
to call 911, shop for a VoIP provider who provides this service.
Consider, too, that VoIP needs both working Internet
access and power to work. If you lose your Internet service,
your phone goes, too. And, unlike regular phone service that
can keep basic telephones working when the power goes out,
VoIP needs power— if you lose power, you lose your phone.
Moving forward
Before VoIP technology becomes truly universal, the
current worldwide PSTN will have to migrate to a packetbased IP equivalent. Industry inertia alone dictates this will
not occur instantly. The current worldwide PSTN system has
grown to what it is over a period of 125 years. Given the sheer
complexity of the existing PSTN, the migration to an IP packet
network will probably occur during several decades.
As migration from the PSTN to IP-based networks
proceeds, businesses and home users will gradually discover
reasons of their own to implement VoIP. It won’t happen right
away, but we predict that VoIP will become a big part of
telecommunications in the not-so-distant future.
Although it’s not quite as convenient as conventional
phone service, VoIP can offer serious savings— particularly if
you now regularly pay for multiple overseas phone calls. Keep
in mind though, VoIP isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. But with
a little planning, VoIP could spell savings for you!
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TECH SPECS
Caller ID Type — FSX Ports: 1⁄2 FSK, ITU V.23/Bell 202 generation;
FXO Ports: Caller ID FSK CLI reception and relay (Bellcore/ANSI and
ETSI/ITU), Call routing based on Caller ID
Call Routing —
Virtual interfaces;
Routing criteria: Called party number (Destination), Calling
party number (source), time of day, day of week, date, longest prefix
match, wildcard match, regular expression match;
Number manipulation functions: Replace numbers, add/remove
digits, regular Expressions;
Fallback routing: Soft fallback to alternative interface or
call router table
Environmental — Operating temperature: 32–104° F (0–40° C);
Operating humidity: 5–80% (noncondensing)
Fax and Modem Support — G.711 fax and modem bypass;
T.38 Fax relay (9600 bps, 14.4 kbps)
IP Services — IPv4 router;
Static routes, ICMP redirect (RFC 792), RIPv1, v2 (RFC 1058 and 2453);
Static and dynamic NAT and NAPT;
DHCP server and client;
Access control lists;
IPSEC AH & ESP modes, preshared keys;
AES/DES/3DES encryption
Management — Web GUI;
Industry standard CLI with local console (RJ-45, RS-232) and remote
Telnet access;
TFTP configuration and firmware loading;
SNMP v1 agent (MIB II and private MIB);
Built-in diagnostic tools (trace, debug)
QoS — Traffic classification by ACL;
TOS and DiffServ labeling, configurable TOS/Precedence bits
or DiffServ codepoints;
IEEE 802.1p/Q;
Traffic scheduling: Priority, weighted fair queuing (WFQ), hierarchical
traffic classes;
Policing of traffic classes;
DownStreamQoS
™
dynamic restriction of inbound (downstream)
TCP traffic to free bandwidth for voice packets;
Improves voice quality in the receiving direction
Voice Processing — Voice codes: G.711 A-Law/µ-Law (64 kbps),
G.726 (ADPCM 40, 32, 24, 16 kbps), G.723.1 (5.3 or 6.3 kbps),
G.729ab (8 kbps);
Up to 8 parallel voice connections;
G.168 echo cancellation;
Carrier tone detection and generation;
Silence suppression and comfort noise;
Configurable dejitter buffer;
Configurable tones (dial, ringing, busy);
RTP/RTCP (RFC 1889)
Voice Services — Anonymous Caller ID block;
Call blocking;
Call forward on busy;
Call forward, selective;
Call forward, unconditional;
Call hold/retrieve;
Call return;
Call transfer, blind;
Call transfer, with consultation;
Call waiting/retrieval;
Caller ID;
Conference drop;
Conferencing (3-way calling);
Distinctive ring;
Do not disturb;
Hotline calling;
Incoming Caller ID on/off;
IP URL dialing;
Message waiting indication;
Self Caller ID block;
Speed dial;
Voicemail message retrieval;
Warmline calling
CE Approval — Yes
Connectors — All: (2) RJ-45 10-/100-Mbps Ethernet;
VOE231A: (2) RJ-11 FXS;
VOE232A: (4) RJ-11 FXS;
VOE233A: (6) RJ-11 FXS;
VOE234A: (8) RJ-11 FXS;
VOE235A: (2) RJ-11 FXS, (2) RJ-11 FXO;
VOE236A: (4) RJ-11 FXS, (2) RJ-11 FXO;
VOE238A: (4) RJ-11 FXS, (4) RJ-11 FXO
Indicators — LEDs: (1) Power, (1) Run (1) VoIP Link, (2) Link, (2) 100M,
(2) Activity, (2–8) Voice Port
Power — 100–240 VAC, 50–60 Hz, external
Size — 2.5"H x 8.5"W x 7.1"D (6.4 x 21.6 x 18 cm)
Weight — 1 lb. (0.5 kg)
724-746-5500 blackbox.com
Item Code
Multiport VoIP Gateway Routers
2-Port FXS VOE231A
4-Port FXS VOE232A
6-Port FXS VOE233A
8-Port FXS VOE234A
2-Port FXS, 2-Port FXO VOE235A
4-Port FXS, 2-Port FXO VOE236A
4-Port FXS, 4-Port FXO VOE238A
VOE231A: rear view
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