How Digital Phone Systems Work

Digital phone systems are to old analog systems like computers are to typewriters. The technology that comprises digital telephone systems is allows much greater flexibility. Analog systems worked on electrical impulses while digital technology converts voice into a binary code series of zeroes and ones. This code means that not only do digital systems work with voice, but data as well, making them far more useful for communications.

How Digital Phones Transmit Information

Digital phone systems by transmitting voice and data over what are category 5 or CAT 5 cables. These cables, which have been laid as a network across the nation and overseas, is similar to the network cabling that is used by computers connected to computer networks. These networks are also referred to as broadband networks and carry information over high-speed networks.

How Does a Digital Phone Network Operate?

With the old analog phone systems that operated on electrical impulses, you would pick up a phone and hear a dial tone. The dial tone was a signal to dial the number and transmit a series of impulses via overhead electrical telephone lines, connecting one phone to another. You would hear an answer on the other end and a conversation would ensue.

Making a Call on a Digital Phone System

The process of making a call is the same in a digital telephone system with a few stark differences. The telephone dial tone that you hear is not an electrical impulse. It is added by the network provided to give you a sense that something is happen—in actuality digital phone networks run silent. Dialing the number in a digital phone triggers a computer network that sends the binary code of 1s and 0s to the receiver on the other end of the system via CAT 5 cables.

A series of switches determines the routing of the call and compresses and decompresses the signal upon delivery or connection. To the user, this is a seamless process that is no different than what they are used to in the old analog phone systems.

Binary Code versus Electrical Impulse

Because digital phone systems use binary code sent over cable wires, it is a more efficient way to transmit data that is not only voice but code sent from a computer. In fact, digital phones are merely a computer handheld that connects the caller to the network, much in the same manner in which you access the Internet. To the digital phone system, voice or data entered on a laptop or personal computer is no different. The series of switches enabled by engaging the system is transmitted in the same manner.

The advantage here is that a digital phone system is less susceptible to outages due to weather conditions such as thunder storms or a natural disaster, such as those that will affect data delivered via electrical impulses. The downside is that the demand for voice, data and video places demand on a digital phone system that may not fully have the infrastructure capability to meet demand.