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Glossary of Telecoms Terms

Find out explanations of industry specific jargon and Technical terms.

A
AC Adapter
Our UC Portal overview tutorial gives you the full overview of the basic settings you need to get you started on our UC system. Discover how your Dashbord works, edit and manage your account, users, groups and contacts, manage your devices, set up new or edit existing callflows and much, much more to get you up and running with your Blueface phone system.
Accounts
Accounts role allows extra permissions around invoices and reporting, such as orders and subscriptions.
ACL (Access Control List)
An access control list (ACL) serves as an embodiment of a logical mechanism designed to selectively authorize or restrict specific packets from traversing an interface. Conversely, a firewall constitutes a hardware or software component that scrutinizes network traffic within a designated network segment, rendering judgments on which data to permit and which to prohibit. These parallels in functionality are noteworthy.
ADSL: Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line
ADSL has the capability to transmit data at varying high speeds, both upstream and downstream, contingent upon the distance of the line. The term "asymmetric" denotes the design principle wherein ADSL is optimized to provide greater downstream speeds (from the central office to the customer) compared to upstream speeds (in the reverse direction).
Always-On
Our UC Portal overview tutorial gives you the full overview of the basic settings you need to get you started on our UC system. Discover how your Dashbord works, edit and manage your account, users, groups and contacts, manage your devices, set up new or edit existing callflows and much, much more to get you up and running with your Blueface phone system.
Analogue/Analog
In relation to VoIP, the term "analogue" pertains to the older, pre-digital telephones and communication systems. In today's landscape, the vast majority of newly manufactured phones are digital in nature, offering enhanced features and capabilities. However, it's important to note that many of these digital phones possess the versatility to seamlessly integrate with both analogue and digital technologies, ensuring compatibility and flexibility in various communication environments.
Area Code
Area codes are essential in telecommunications, identifying and directing phone numbers to specific countries or regions. They simplify call routing, comply with local regulations, and create a sense of locality, contributing to efficient global communication.
ATA (Analogue Telephone Adaptor)
An ATA, or Analog Telephone Adapter, is a compact device that connects standard telephones to broadband Internet, enabling them to make and receive calls over the web. This conversion of analog voice signals into digital data packets offers a cost-effective solution for voice communication, preserving traditional phone functionality while embracing the benefits of the digital age.
Audit Logs
Within call flows, various elements play distinct roles in streamlining communication processes. One such essential element is the Auto-Attendant, acting as an automated receptionist. It greets callers with pre-recorded messages, offers menu options, and guides them to the right destination, enhancing professionalism and efficient call handling.
Auto Attendant
Auto Attendant, in VoIP, is a virtual receptionist automating call routing via pre-recorded prompts, replacing human receptionists. It guides callers with options (e.g., press numbers for departments), is customizable to direct calls, and boosts efficiency, professionalism, and call management, all without human intervention.
B
Bandwidth
Bandwidth gives you an indication of the speed capabilities of your broadband connection. This speed is measured in kilobits per second (Kbps). Old dial-up modems have a maximum data rate of 56 Kbps. Broadband services begin with data speeds of 512 Kbps. These speeds cannot be guaranteed as the connection will more than likely be shared with other people.Traditionally, broadband is sold on a ‘’contended’’ basis (subscribers have to share a pipe – usually, 50:1 or 20:1), so when it’s busy, the actual available capacity fails.‘’Uncontended’’ broadband, however, still does not mean a guaranteed minimum. Typically, peak usage will settle at a level depending on exact activity and amount of traffic. If traffic consistently exceeds the capacity of a node or circuit, the broadband service will have to be upgraded.
BRI
This is a type of line that provides 2 data (bearer) channels (B channels) at 64 kbit/s each and 1 control (delta) channel (D channel) at 16 kbit/s. The B channels are used for voice or user data, and the D channel is used for any combination of data, control/signaling, and X.25 packet networking. The 2 B channels can be aggregated by channel bonding providing a total data rate of 128 kbit/s. The BRI ISDN service is commonly installed for residential or small business service (ISDN PBX) in many countries.

Broadband
Broadband is high-speed Internet access that you access through a cable or DSL modem. It has a continuous connection to the Internet at much faster speeds than dial-up.
C
Call Baring
When each user and/or device is added to the customer’s UC Portal account, call barring can be implemented on the device or user profile. An administrator can bar any user, or device, from making certain types of calls (National, International, Mobile, Premium).
Call Conference
A ‘Room’ and a ‘PIN’ is provided to each user to allow them to host a conference at any time. Each conference call can handle up to 32 end points.
Call Flow Designer
The UC’s graphical user interface makes call flow design easy, with each call flow element displayed in an onscreen menu. All the elements can be dragged and dropped.
Call Forwarding
A phone service feature that allows the user to forward a phone call to another phone number. For example, you can forward your home phone number to your mobile number so you never miss a call.
Call History
The call history can be filtered based on date ranges, user groups or individual users, devices, originating numbers, dialed numbers and the type of number (fax or voice). It can be downloaded in .csv format.
Caller ID (CLI)
This transmits a caller’s number during the ringing signal. When creating users, or adding lines to devices, an internal caller ID number and internal caller ID name can be configured. An external caller ID number and caller id name can also be set at the user (or line) level. The external caller ID number must be an external number that belongs to the customer account.
Call Centre Queueing
On the UC Portal an administrator can create call queues to handle a large number of inbound calls. UC Portal users can also be set up as agents who can then be assigned to various call queues.
Call Logs
These are detailed call records. With Blueface you can view these on line by logging in to your account. They contain information on call: duration, destination, origination and price.
Call Paging
A page is a message that is simulcast to a number of devices that have been defined as a paging service area. All devices will be placed in speaker mode and the page will be delivered. For enhanced security, it is possible to assign a PIN so that only authorized users can initiate a page.
Call Parking
It places the call on hold in a designated extension until a user dials into that extension to resume the call. Users can monitor park positions and pickup calls on their devices using the function keys or sidecar button on their phones. Call parking can be Static (1 call) or Dynamic (from 1 up to 10 calls).
D
Device Configuration
An administrator can add, remove or configure devices. They can also check the status of each device on the account. The Device section of the portal displays each line on each device.

Administrators can also customize each device/device line by allocating different numbers to different lines, pre-programming numbers for one touch dialling (Speed Dials) and set up Busy Lamp Field (BLF) to monitor other devices and therefore utilize the call pickup function.
DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol)
It is a communications protocol that lets network administrators centrally manage and automate the assignment of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses in an organisation’s network. Using the Internet Protocol, each machine that can connect to the Internet needs a unique IP address, which is assigned when an Internet connection is created for a specific computer. Without DHCP the IP address must be entered manually at each computer in an organisation and a new IP address must be entered each time a computer moves to a new location on the network. DHCP lets a network administrator supervise and distribute IP addresses from a central point and automatically sends a new IP address when a computer is plugged into a different place in the network.
Distributor
Allows Distributors to view all the accounts the Resellers have created and manage those accordingly. They will have the same permission on all accounts in their Distribution portfolio as a Customer Administrator.
DNS (Domain Name System)
It’s a resource record which specifies a regular expression based rewrite rule that, when applied to an existing string, will produce a new domain label or Uniform Resource Identifier (URI).
Double Natting
The ideal network involves your Internet Service Provider (ISP) connecting onsite to a stand-alone modem that connects to a router. If you have more devices on your network than ports on your router, then you can connect a switch to your router to expand the number of ports. If you use an additional router instead of a switch, you will be creating a Double NAT.

This makes it difficult for the messages to make it to and from their destination. There is no fix for a Double NAT other than replacing one of the routers with a switch.

Most issues involving Double NAT will be intermittent meaning it will work one minute then have issues the next. The reason is that the messages don’t always fail to get to and from their destination. Normally the more traffic a user has on their network the more likely they are to experience issues.
Download
Downloading information is usually used to describe transferring information/data from the Internet. When you download a file like an email or web page it copies from a remote computer to your computer.
DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) Modem
The DSL is a connectivity option. A device used to connect a computer or router to a telephone line provides the DSL service for connectivity to the Internet, which is often called DSL broadband.
DTMF
DTMF (dual tone multi frequency) is the signal or noise the phone keypad makes when you press the touch keys. When you press a key it generates two specific frequencies so a voice cannot imitate the tones. These tones are used for signalling the telephone exchange.
E
E911 (Enhanced 911)
is a service that automatically displays the telephone number and physical location of the 911 caller on the emergency operator’s screen.
Echo
A sound or sounds caused by the reflection of sound waves from a surface back to the listener.
Echo Test
This Echo element in the Call Flow allows linking a specific number to the echo test of the platform in order to perform a basic troubleshooting, and check the latency and jitter. It is useful for L1/Tier 1 support actions.
EFM (Ethernet First Mile) aka
FTTC (Fibre to the Cabinet)
EFM/FTTC is a connectivity technology that is based on a combination of fibre optic cable and copper cable. The fibre optic cable is in place from the local telephone exchange to a distribution point (commonly called a roadside cabinet). From this distribution point a standard telephone line based on copper is then used to deliver the broadband connectivity.
Ethernet
The ideal network involves your Internet Service Provider (ISP) connecting onsite to a stand-alone modem that connects to a router. If you have more devices on your network than ports on your router, then you can connect a switch to your router to expand the number of ports. If you use an additional router instead of a switch, you will be creating a Double NAT.

This makes it difficult for the messages to make it to and from their destination. There is no fix for a Double NAT other than replacing one of the routers with a switch.

Most issues involving Double NAT will be intermittent meaning it will work one minute then have issues the next. The reason is that the messages don’t always fail to get to and from their destination. Normally the more traffic a user has on their network the more likely they are to experience issues.
Ethernet Cable
Downloading information is usually used to describe transferring information/data from the Internet. When you download a file like an email or web page it copies from a remote computer to your computer.
F
Federation Administrator
Where a company has multiple sites or stores set up as individual accounts they can appoint a Federation Admin. This Admin will have access to view all accounts associated with their Federation Group and can manage accordingly. They will have the same permission level on all accounts as a Customer Administrator. This is an extended role of the Whitelabel Administrator.
Federations
Companies with independent stores, outlets, franchises or sites can create and link the various multiple accounts associated with each of these entities using our Federation Functionality. This function links each individual entity so that they utilize a common internal dial plan across their entire federation (any extension duplication will be highlighted by the platform). The Customer Administrator who creates the federation is typically assigned the extended role of Federation Administrator.
Firewall
A system designed to prevent unauthorized access to or from a private network. Firewalls can be implemented as hardware, software, or a combination of both. All messages entering or leaving pass through the firewall, which examines each message and blocks those that do not meet the security criteria specified on the firewall.

A firewall’s main security purpose is blocking unsolicited incoming network traffic, but because a firewall is sitting between these two networks, it can analyze all traffic reaching or leaving the network and decide what to do with it; a firewall could have a variety of rules that allow and deny certain types of traffic. For example, it could only allow connections to a server from a specific IP address, dropping all connection requests from elsewhere for security.
G
Gateway
In IP telephony a gateway is a network device that converts voice and fax calls in real time between public switched telephone networks (PSTN) and an IP network. The primary functions of an IP gateway include voice and fax compression/decompression, packetisation, call routing, and control signalling.
Group Monitor
Has the same access as a ‘Regular User’ with the additional ability to view the Call History for the ‘User Group’ to which they are assigned. They will not have any other control over the account.
GUI – Graphical User Interface
Blueface uses GUIs for its Toolbox and Conferencing. It is a computer interface that uses icons or pictures to help users navigate and control both services.
H
HTML – Hypertext Markup Language
HTML is the programming language used to create documents for display on the World Wide Web.
HTTP – Hypertext Transfer Protocol
Is the set of rules and standards that govern how information is transmitted on the World Wide Web.
Hub
A hub is a communication device that distributes data to several devices in a network by re-broadcasting the data that has been received from one (or more) of the devices connected to it.
I
INEX
INEX is a neutral, industry-owned Association, founded in 1996, that provides IP peering facilities for its members. INEX membership is open to all organisations that can benefit from peering their IP traffic. They provide us with high-speed, reliable and resilient IP traffic exchange facilities allowing us to route IP traffic efficiently thereby providing faster, more reliable and lower-latency internet access for our customers. INEX switching centres are located in secure data centres around Dublin and the infrastructure is connected by dedicated resilient fibre links.
ISP (Internet Service Provider)
A provider of internet access. This can be for broadband or dial-up.
ISDN: Integrated Services Digital Network
This is a digital telephony and data-transport service offered by regional telephone carriers. ISDN involves the digitisation of a telephone network, which permits voice, data, text, graphics, music, video, and other source material to be transmitted over existing telephone wires.
Internet
Internet is the global system of interconnected computer networks that use the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to link devices worldwide.
IP Address
An IP address is a unique address that certain electronic devices use in order to identify and communicate with each other on a computer network. Any participating network device including routers, switches, computers, time-servers, printers, Internet fax machines, and some telephones have their own unique address. Similar to a home or business address supplying that specific physical location with an identifiable address, devices on a network are differentiated from one another through IP addresses. A computer uses DNS servers to look up a hostname to find its IP address. Most IP addresses look like this: 151.101.65.121
IVR (Interactive Voice Response)
Is an automated software-based telephone information system that speaks to callers using a mix of fixed voice menus and real-time data accessed from databases. Callers interact with an IVR by making touch-tone keypad selections or speaking words or short phrases. IVR systems are used to route callers to specific personnel or departments, conduct polls or provide information, such as billing information or bank balances.
J
Jitter
In VoIP, measured in milliseconds, jitter is the variation in the latency on a packet flow between the sender and the receiver, when some packets take longer to travel from one system to the other.

The source of jitter can be an extreme challenge to identify (cables, hardware). Like any intermittent problem, you have a chance to find it only if you’re capturing data from the LAN at the time the problem occurs (relevant for speed test).

Jitter is basically the variance in measuring successive ping tests. Zero jitter means the results were exactly the same every time, and anything above zero is the amount by which they varied. Like the other quality measurements, a lower jitter value is better. Recommended jitter value is < 3 ms.

Jitter is significant to real-time applications because the receiver will notice Jitter as poor audio quality, audio sounds choppy.
L
LAN (Local Area Network)
A local area network is a computer network covering a local area, like a home, office or small group of buildings such as a college or hospital.
Latency
A synonym for delay, is the amount of time it takes to send information from one point to the next. Latency is usually measured in milliseconds (ms). It’s also referred to (during speed tests) as a ping rate. Latency is measured by sending a packet that is returned to the sender and the round-trip time is considered the latency. Latency’s effects depend on observers, but most will perceive obvious latency around 100-120 milliseconds. Communications will start to break down around 250-300ms. Recommended latency value is <100 ms.
M
MB (Megabyte)
Is a unit of measurement used to describe data. 1MB is 1,000KB (Kilobytes). 1MB is 1,048,576 bytes to be exact but is often rounded off to 1,000,000 bytes. An average length MP3 music file would be about 4MB. A standard photo taken with a 7 Megapixel camera would be 1-1.5MB. A standard 3 page text only Word document would be about .08MB or 80KB.
Mbps (Megabits per second)
A measurement of data transmission speed in a communication system: the number of megabits transmitted or received each second.
Media Uploader
The UC Portal allows the User Administrator to add one or more audio files to play while your Customers are on hold. File formats supported: wav, ogg, mp3, mp4, wma. The Call Flow Designer also includes a Play element, which can be used to play an audio file at a relevant point in a call flow. Files can be uploaded using a simple drag & drop function.
Modem
A modem is a device for sending computer data over a voice phone line.
MOS (Mean Opinion Score)
The MOS is a commonly used measure for video, audio, and audiovisual quality evaluation. 1 is the lowest perceived quality, and 5 is the highest perceived quality.
Multiline (Hunting)
Is a method of distributing phone calls from a single telephone number to a group of several phone lines and finding the next free line in a group. A Hunt number/group is not connected to a particular handset, but incoming calls to a particular number (hunt number) are routed to a pre-defined group (hunt group) of extension’s numbers. The call can be broadcast or rotated through the pool of lines until a free line is found, and the caller is connected.
N
NAT: Network Address Translation
NAT is a technique of transcribing network traffic through a router that involves re-writing the source and/or destination addresses of IP packets as they pass through. Most systems using NAT do this so multiple hosts on a private network can access the Internet using a single public IP address. Many network administrators find NAT a convenient technique and use it widely.
Network
Two or more computers that are connected so users can share files and devices (for example, printers, servers, and storage devices).
Numbering
The UC Portal provides a suite of tools to allow administrators to fully manage and allocate internal and external numbers. These features allow the user (with sufficient permissions) the ability to allocate/deallocate the following number categories (Extensions, Local numbers, Local fax numbers, International numbers, International fax numbers).
P
Packet
A technique for routing data through a network is by encapsulating data into packets. These packets are then labelled with addresses and routing information and forwarded until they reach their intended destination.Packet loss is the failure of one or more transmitted packets to arrive at their destination. In audio communications, such as VoIP, it can cause jitter and frequent gaps in received speech. In the worst cases, packet loss can cause severe mutilation of received data, broken-up audio, unintelligible speech or even the complete absence of a received signal.
PBX (Private Branch Exchange)
It is a very small specialised switch. It permits any attached telephones to call each other using shorter numbers and requires the caller to select an “outside line” to make calls outside the switch. A VoIP based PBX is a very common device which can be hardware or a software at the user’s end that manages calls and diverts.
Ping test
Ping is the measurement that tells how long it takes a “packet” of data to travel from your computer to a server on the Internet and back. Whenever you experience delayed responses in Internet applications – this would be due to a higher than desired ping. Similar to packet loss, lower is better when it comes to ping. A result below 100 MS should be expected from any decent broadband connection.
Peering
The Internet is a collection of separate and distinct networks referred to as autonomous systems. The relationships between these networks are generally described by one of the following categories:

Transit (or pay) – The network operator pays money (or settlement) to another network for Internet access (or transit).

Peer (or swap) – Two networks exchange traffic between their users freely, and for mutual benefit.

Customer (or sell) – A network pays another network money to be provided with Internet access.Motivations for peering are, for example: increased redundancy, capacity for extremely large amounts of traffic, routing control over one’s traffic and performance.
Poe (Power over Ethernet)
Traditionally PSTN phones were powered by the PBX or Telephone Exchange, while IP Telephones need power from a data cable (PoE) or from an AC Adapter. Most modem routers and switches are PoE enabled. CAT5, and later cables, have 4 pairs of wires. PoE sacrifices one pair to carry power.
Porting Administrator
Allows users to create and modify Porting requests. This role is added on top of White Label (WL) Administrator permission levels.
Pots (Plain Old Telephone System)
A phone connected to a local exchange where it is “on hook (hung up)” until taken “off hook”. Built on standard copper wire and POTS phones, they are reliable, boast good voice quality, and have the basic features you might find in a typical home phone such as hold, mute, redial, and speed dial. They may also be able to transfer calls between extensions. But their features end there. Because of their simplicity and limited potential for expansion, they are relatively inexpensive to purchase. However, analog systems, because they use less-modular hardware can be expensive to support, configure, and upgrade.
Power-cycle
Power-cycle is a euphemism for asking you to switch off a device and switch it back on again.
PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol)
PPP is a connection oriented protocol that establishes a link between two communication devices that encapsulates data packets (such as Internet packets) for transfer between two communication points. PPP allows end users (end points) to set up a logical connection and transfer data between communication points regardless of the underlying physical connection (such as Ethernet, ATM, or ISDN).
PRI (Primary Rate Interface)
This term is always used in connection with ISDN as in “ISDN PRI”. It refers to a digital circuit, such as a T1 or E1 that carries multiple calls and uses the ISDN signalling protocol.It is a type of line for large organizations, with one 64-kbit/s D channel and 23 or 30, 64-kbit/s B channels.
Protocol
A protocol is a formalised set of rules that computers use to communicate. This strictly defines procedure and message formats allowing two or more systems to communicate over a transmission medium.
PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network)
This is the most commonly used method by all users that only have the need to use one line for one conversation at a time using only one phone number. PSTN uses an old technology whereby circuit-switched copper phone lines are used to transmit analogue voice data. It is the basic service that you have at home and in a small business. As a dedicated service, a PSTN line cannot be used for any other purpose while a call is being made.
Q
QOS (Quality of Service)
QoS prioritises voice traffic to avoid any interferences ensuring the quality of your voice calls even when your broadband connection is being used for other items like downloading music or surfing the web. It’s a free setting on most firewalls, but residential firewalls may not have this option.
R
Redundancy
When each user and/or device is added to the customer’s UC Portal account, call barring can be implemented on the device or user profile. An administrator can bar any user, or device, from making certain types of calls (National, International, Mobile, Premium).
Regular User
A ‘Room’ and a ‘PIN’ is provided to each user to allow them to host a conference at any time. Each conference call can handle up to 32 end points.
Reseller
The UC’s graphical user interface makes call flow design easy, with each call flow element displayed in an onscreen menu. All the elements can be dragged and dropped.
Resilience
A phone service feature that allows the user to forward a phone call to another phone number. For example, you can forward your home phone number to your mobile number so you never miss a call.
Ring Groups
The call history can be filtered based on date ranges, user groups or individual users, devices, originating numbers, dialed numbers and the type of number (fax or voice). It can be downloaded in .csv format.
RJ11
RJ11 is a physical connector mostly used for terminating telephone wires. Looks like a data network cable, but isn’t, it is used for ADSL, telephone, and modem cables etc…
RJ45
RJ45 is a physical connector commonly used for telephone and data communication systems (ethernet networking). It looks similar to a telephone jack, but is slightly wider. Since Ethernet cables have an RJ45 connector on each end, Ethernet cables are sometimes also called RJ45 cables. It’s mainly used in network wiring.
RTP (Real-Time Transport Protocol)
Commonly RTP is a packet based communication protocol that adds timing and sequence information to each packet to allow the reassembly of packets to reproduce real time audio and video information. RTP is a transport used in IP audio and video environments.
Router
Is a piece of hardware that directs information to your computer this is what connects you to an Internet service provider for Internet access.
S
SoftPhone
Is a software installed on your computer that enables the use of VoIP without any hardware. You will need a headset or microphone and headphones to make phone calls. It allows you to make and receive phone calls without having a traditional home phone. The Blueface UC Softphone application is a SIP-based softphone for use with a Blueface UC Portal account and is available for download through the Apple App Store (for iOS devices including iPhone, iPad and iPod touch) or for Android on the Google Play Store (https://play.google.com). When a user sets up their account with Blueface, they will be provided with the necessary SIP credentials to link the Softphone application to their Blueface UC account.The Blueface UC application allows users to make and receive calls and includes: call recording, call history, call transfer, voicemail, contacts, etc…
SRTP (Secure Real Time Transport Protocol)
This is an extension of the RTP protocol with an enhanced security mechanism. It provides encryption, authentication and integrity verification of data and messages passed through the RTP-based communication protocol. SRTP enforces an AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) algorithm to encrypt and decrypt all incoming and outgoing messages. The authentication mechanism provides a hash-based message authentication code (HMAC) algorithm, which implements a cryptographic hash function and secret key to validate a message’s authenticity and integrity. Because TLS is used for signalling, the SRTP key information in the SIP packets is also encrypted. Therefore, an attacker cannot access the key information as a pathway to accessing the voice data.
T
TCP (Transmission Control Protocol)
TCP has more checks and even if the packets arrive in the wrong order, it will realign them and ask for a re-transmission. This is useful for SIP signalling where, even if just one packet is missing, the information isn’t valid anymore. Transporting Voice via TCP is useful only in very specific cases.
Time of Day Routing
The Call Flow Designer has a ‘Time of Day’ feature that allows to specify how a call is to be handled, depending on the User’s preferences. For example, out of hours calls can be routed to a different location. It is fully localised, supporting time zones and bank holidays for over 12 different countries.
TLS (Transaction Layer Security)
Is a protocol that ensures secure communication between the client and server on the network. When a server communicates with the customer, TLS ensures that no third party can eavesdrop or tamper with any message being passed between these parties. TLS is the successor to the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL).

The account administrator may wish to encrypt the voice data on a user’s calls. To do this, the administrator can turn call encryption on or off at the user level.
When TLS encryption is enabled, the signalling information is handled using TLS, and the voice data (the SIP packets) are encrypted using SRTP. If a user enables TLS, all the SIP packets will be encrypted to assure that the content cannot be read by malicious people. The SRTP is enabled automatically when TLS is turned on.
Tunnel
Tunnelling is a way in which data is transferred between two networks securely. All the data being transferred is fragmented into smaller packets or frames and then passed through the tunnel.
U
UDP (User Datagram Protocol)
The User Datagram Protocol is the IP protocol that delivers data in the same manner in which it was sent. For example if the sender transmits 20 bytes in a packet, they are delivered to the receiver as 20 bytes.

UDP is an alternative communications protocol to TCP used primarily for establishing low-latency and loss-tolerating connections between applications on the internet. Where UDP enables process-to-process communication, TCP supports host-to-host communication. TCP sends individual packets and is considered a reliable transport medium; UDP sends messages, called datagrams, and is considered a best-effort mode of communications.

UDP is an ideal protocol for network applications in which perceived latency is critical. In order to increase the connection timeout you can modify it from the firewall access rules. Blueface recommends the UDP has a Keep Alive timeout set to “200 seconds”. Should the network go down, this window allows the phones to be pinged a few times to attempt a reconnection automatically. Some routers or firewalls may have this predefined at a lower value.
Unified Communications-as-a-Service (UCaaS) or Hosted Unified Communications
Is an integrated set of voice, data and video communications applications, all of which leverage rich presence information and a common directory. A hosted UC solution involves the delivery of pre-integrated network-based applications. UC solutions simplify communications for end users by giving them ubiquitous and seamless access to various tools. The benefits of UC are based on the vision of ultimate flexibility in accessing communications and collaboration capabilities – anywhere, anytime, on any device and any network.
Upload
Uploading information is used to describe transferring data from your computer to the Internet or another remote computer.
User Management
Different access levels can be granted to each user. For example, users designated as: ‘Customer Administrators’ will have access to more features than ‘Regular Users’. The UC Portal provides administrators with the ability to create users and then to configure the settings for that user.
UTP (Unshielded Twisted Pair)
A ubiquitous type of copper cabling used in telephone wiring and local area networks (LANs).
V
VDSL (Very-high-bit-rate digital subscriber line)
Connectivity option:  is a technology providing data transmission faster than ADSL. Also known as FTTN (Fibre To The Neighbourhood) it offers speeds of up to 52 Mbit/s downstream and 16 Mbit/s upstream.
Virtual Fax
Designated users can send faxes via email (this is our ‘email-to-fax’ solution). In addition, you can add a fax line to your account and then receive faxes as a .pdf file attached to emails that are automatically sent to a designated email address (this is our ‘fax-to-email’ offering).
VLAN
Users with more advanced LAN setups may have requirements for each of their hosted devices to operate on a VLAN. VLAN tagging is a method through which more than one VLAN is handled on a port. VLAN tagging is used to tell which packet belongs to which VLAN on the other side. To make recognition easier, a packet is tagged with a VLAN tag in the Ethernet. Appropriate VLAN tags can be set on the UC Portal.
Voicemail
Your phone calls are diverted to voicemail when you’re unavailable. You can use Blue face’s toolbox to manage your voicemail. Individual voicemail boxes are available for all UC Portal users. Voicemail may be accessed through 3 avenues: through the UC Porta, through the handset and as an audio file sent to User’s email.
Video Conferencing
It is a fully customizable video conferencing tool that utilizes the latest WebRTC technology and the UB8 and Opus codecs for video and audio
VPN (Virtual Private Network)
This enables IP traffic to travel securely over a public TCP/IP network by encrypting all traffic from one network to another. A VPN uses “tunnelling” to encrypt all information at the IP level.
W
WAN (Wide Area Network)
A wide area network is a variety of computer networks connected together and covering a very large geographic area.
Whitelabel Administrator
Allows Users to modify portal translations and email templates. This role is added on top of White Label (WL) Administrator permission levels.
WWW (WORLD WIDE WEB)
Also referred to as The Web, it is a branch of the Internet which uses text, images, video and other elements to provide information on any topic you can imagine.

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