Public Switch Telephone Network and Hosted PBX

The first telephones introduced in public were private phones. Like any other newly invented devices, they were only afforded by the wealthy and served only a few people that time, including the government and some popular industries. However, the most probable reason telephone communication was designed private is that networking was not yet discovered.

During that time, transmitting messages was only possible for phones wired together in pairs. One must have as many phones as the number of persons he needs to call. But one phone serving only one line was an unacceptable drawback for voice communication advancement until public switched telephone network (PSTN) was introduced.

PSTN is the network of public circuit-switched telephone communication. Its concept involves wiring all phones to several telephone exchanges that can transmit the voice message to any line. Telephone exchange helps multiple connections among phones, but can only serve a specific location, requiring many telephone exchanges within a town or a city. These telephone exchanges are then wired towards a central system called a trunk to enable all phones in the town or city to be integrated.

Today, trunking has made PSTN possible not only within a certain area, but among cities and even countries as well. It is already possible to trunk calls from country to country because of the sophistication in the network system. Nevertheless, some private companies are engaging new technology to avoid the communication traffic brought by too much integration in the system. Private branch exchange is their solution to create their own telephone exchange serving only telephone communication within the company through hosted PBX providers.

Hosted PBX (private branch exchange) is a device used to harness all the calls to a specific telephone exchange instead of routing it through the public trunks. In this way, quality communication and complete privacy will be maintained. But there are hosted PBX providers that offer additional features on their system, such as allowing necessary outside business communications.

Other advantages of having a hosted PBX include recording and registering all calls in an accounting system, call barring or blocking, call parking, call pick-up and many more. Many companies are using this system not only because hosted PBX providers give out a lot of features and incentives, but also because it minimizes the expenses when calls are transmitted to a universal trunk.