What's the difference between analog and IP phones, and which should I buy?

Analog phones are the same kind of phones that you've been using for years. The phones in your house are, quite likely, analog phones. That means they're extremely reliable, familiar and very easy to use. You just plug them in, and they do what they've always done. IP phones are a little more complicated, since they're a little more like computers. There are, however, some reasons why you might want to use IP phones as well as or instead of analog phones.

Capacity

The number of phone users in your office is one important consideration. If you use IP phones, you can have more extensions per TalkSwitch unit than you can with only analog phones.

For example, the TalkSwitch 484vs accommodates up to 8 analog extensions, but has a total capacity of 16 extensions. If you use IP phones for the other 8 extensions, you can run an office of 16 employees on one 484vs (you can also use 16 IP phones and skip analog phones altogether. It's up to you). But if you want 16 analog extensions, you'll need an additional TalkSwitch unit.

Remember, though, that like all telephone systems, your TalkSwitch system can only handle as many simultaneous calls as you have telephone lines or VoIP trunks available to handle those calls. In the example above, the 484vs has the capacity for 4 traditional phone lines and 4 VoIP trunks, for a total of 8 simultaneous calls. That's more than enough line capacity for the average office with 16 extensions.

Line Appearance and extension appearance

Some businesses want the ability to see and select phone lines or extensions right on their telephone, a feature called line or extension appearance. TalkSwitch offers line or extension appearance on selected IP phones, the TS-350i, TS-550i, TS-9143i and TS-480i. So if you want line or extension appearance for your office, choose these IP phones.

Depending on how you plan to use line or extension appearance in your business, you might want to consider the TalkSwitch Attendant Console as well. It's a software application that allows you to see all of your line and extension traffic on your computer.

Other features might also influence your decision about which phones to buy. For example, you can only do group paging with analog phones, and you can only have external IP extensions with IP phones. Take a look at our phone comparison to see which of our phones have the features you want. And remember, you can always use both analog and IP phones.

Wiring

Some offices are already wired for analog telephones at each workstation. Analog phones use standard RJ11 phone wires to plug into an extension jack in the back of the TalkSwitch, and some offices have all of the phone jacks wired back to one main location.

But if you're wiring a brand new office and you're already putting computers at each desk, IP phones can save you the money and headaches of putting in two separate sets of wires.

Since IP phones plug into the LAN the same way your computer does, you don't need to run phone wires to each workstation at all. Plus, the TS-350i, TS-550i, TS-9143i and the TS-480i can also get power over the Ethernet (POE), so they don't require a dedicated electrical outlet either.

On the other hand, analog phones don't depend on your network equipment to function properly, since they connect directly to your TalkSwitch system.

What happens to my phones in a power outage?

IP phones will not work without power, but analog phones can. In the event of a power outage, all calls get routed over line 1 to jack E4 (extension 114). If you have an analog phone connected to jack E4, it will continue to function. No other extensions will function, whether they are analog or IP phones. Even if you choose IP phones for your system, you may want to keep a spare analog phone handy. Keeping in touch in a power outage is as simple as connecting an analog phone to jack E4. Once the power comes back, the system will resume normal function.