Frequently Asked Questions

Private Branch eXchange (also called Private Business eXchange) – is a telephone exchange that is owned by a private business, as opposed to one owned by a common carrier or by a telephone company. It is a dedicated business phone system in use in many businesses today.

Cove Central offers only IP PBX. This is a business phone system using IP (Internet Protocol). For IP PBX, we offer two PBX options: It could be installed on-premise or via cloud hosted PBX.

Voice over Internet Protocol (also called IP Telephony, Internet telephony, and Digital Phone) – is the routing of voice conversations over the Internet or any other IP-based network.

Cove Central offers only VoIP service. Typically, a customer might have a POTS line (plain old telephone service) so we would upgrade the customer from POTS to VoIP or from Analog phones to Digital Phones.

Session Initiation Protocol – is a protocol developed by the IETF MMUSIC Working Group and proposed standard for initiating, modifying, and terminating an interactive user session that involves multimedia elements such as video, voice, instant messaging, online games, and virtual reality.

Cove Central uses SIP trunks as its tunnel service to enable a customer’s PBX (Phone Exchange System) to send and receive calls via the Internet. A trunk could hold multiple lines or channels. A channel is the path for concurrent calls and the number of channels would depend on the needs of each customer

Direct Inward Dialing is simply a direct line. Often times a customer will have a main line, but the President might have its own DID or direct line.

Cove Central includes (1) DID per line or channel in standard pricing and offers additional DIDs at a nominal extra charge per number.

A Session Border Controller (SBC) is a network function which secures voice over IP (VoIP) infrastructures while providing interworking between incompatible signaling messages and media flows (sessions) from end devices or application servers.

Cove Central offers 3CX which includes the 3CX Session Border Controller that allows easier bridging of remote instances and connection of remote extensions. Here are the typical uses of the 3CX SBC:

• To deploy so that all phones will communicate with the 3CX PBX over a single port providing a much smoother VoIP traffic delivery. This is also the preferred option in cases where a customer’s 3CX is running as a Cloud hosted PBX.

• You may also connect various buildings (such as a campus) using a Bridge. When connecting from one building to the other, you are not using outside lines but rather calling via extensions.

• The 3CX SBC also connects 3CX apps for Windows, MAC, iOS and Android with a built in tunnel to allow remote connections.

Cove Central also offers Vodia PBX which has a built-in SBC in its software eliminating the additional appliance needed for a cloud hosted PBX.

In telephony, Interactive Voice Response – is a computerized system that allows a person, typically a telephone caller, to select an option from a voice menu and otherwise interface with a computer system. The interaction can be touch tone by pressing buttons on the phone or spoken.

Cove Central’s PBX includes an Auto Attendant or Digital Receptionist that allows the caller to select options thru the IVR.

SMS (short message service) is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet, and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols to enable mobile devices to exchange short text messages.

Cove Central offers Business SMS. This means a customer’s user could receive text messaging from their main number, toll-free number or any assigned direct business number which will then be directed to an assigned customer email address.

POE is Power Over Ethernet which is a system that passes electric power along with data on Ethernet cabling. This allows a single cable to provide connection for both data and VoIP phones, wireless access points, IP cameras, etc.

Cove Central typically uses POE system using a POE Gigabit Switch to power (VoIP) IP phones along with data lines.