RESOURCES / GLOSSARY
The acronyms,
decoded.
Thirty terms the telecoms industry uses to sound clever, explained the way we'd explain them over coffee.
APNACCESS POINT NAME
The gateway between a mobile network and the internet. A private APN is your own gateway — devices talk to your systems without touching the public internet.
Auto-attendant
The recorded menu that answers before a human does. Done well, it routes; done badly, it's why people hate phoning companies.
CLICALLING LINE IDENTITY
The number that shows when you call someone. Cloud systems let you present your main office number from any device — including a mobile in a van.
Codec
The maths that turns your voice into data and back. Modern codecs (like Opus or G.722) are why VoIP calls can sound better than the old network ever did.
DDIDIRECT DIAL-IN
A number that rings one person or team directly, skipping the switchboard. Cloud systems hand these out freely; the old world charged per line.
Direct Routing
Connecting Microsoft Teams to the phone network through a provider like us instead of Microsoft's Calling Plans — usually cheaper, always more flexible.
eSIM
A SIM that's built into the device and programmed remotely. New starter? QR code, two minutes, done. No envelopes, no paperclip.
Failover
The backup path traffic takes when the main one dies — typically 4G/5G stepping in for broken broadband. Measured in seconds, remembered in outages avoided.
FTTPFIBRE TO THE PREMISES
Fibre all the way into your building — the gold standard for carrying voice and everything else. FTTC, its cheaper cousin, is fibre to the street cabinet then copper the rest of the way.
Hunt group
A set of phones that ring for one number — together, in order, or round-robin — so a call finds a human instead of a voicemail.
IMEI lock
Binding a SIM to one device's hardware ID, so a SIM stolen from a smart meter or charger is worthless anywhere else.
IVRINTERACTIVE VOICE RESPONSE
"Press 1 for sales…" — the menu system that routes callers. The art is keeping it to one layer and three options.
ISDNINTEGRATED SERVICES DIGITAL NETWORK
The digital phone lines businesses bought in the 90s and 2000s. Being retired along with the PSTN — if you still have ISDN, the clock is ticking loudest for you.
Jitter
Variation in how quickly voice packets arrive. Low jitter: smooth call. High jitter: the robotic underwater voice that makes people hang up.
LTE-M / NB-IoT
Slimmed-down mobile network flavours for small, battery-powered devices — trading speed for power efficiency and better building penetration.
MVNOMOBILE VIRTUAL NETWORK OPERATOR
A provider that sells mobile service over the big networks' masts. Good MVNOs add what the giants won't: multi-network SIMs, human support, honest billing.
Number porting
Moving your phone number between providers. Regulated, free in practice, and the step that most needs project-managing when you switch.
OCPPOPEN CHARGE POINT PROTOCOL
The standard language EV chargers use to talk to their management platform — the traffic our SIMs carry for charging networks.
PACPORTING AUTHORISATION CODE
The code that moves a mobile number to a new provider. Text "PAC" to 65075 and your current network must hand it over.
PBXPRIVATE BRANCH EXCHANGE
Your business's phone brain: extensions, transfers, menus, voicemail. Once a beige box in a cupboard; now (ideally) software in the cloud.
Pooled data
One shared data allowance across many SIMs. The estate's total matters; no single device's overage does. The sane way to buy IoT and team data.
Presence
Live status across the team — free, busy, on a call, away. The difference between transferring a call and losing one.
PSTNPUBLIC SWITCHED TELEPHONE NETWORK
The copper phone network Britain built over a century. Being switched off by January 2027 — the reason half this website exists.
QoSQUALITY OF SERVICE
Router settings that give voice packets priority over everything else, so a big file download never makes the MD sound like a dalek.
SIPSESSION INITIATION PROTOCOL
The protocol that sets up and tears down internet calls. A SIP trunk is a bundle of virtual phone lines delivered over your internet connection.
Softphone
A phone that's an app — on a laptop or mobile — with your extension, directory and queues. The desk phone's job, minus the desk.
Steered vs unsteered
How multi-network SIMs pick a network. Steered SIMs prefer the operator's cheapest partner; unsteered SIMs pick the strongest signal. For reliability, insist on unsteered.
Wallboard
A live dashboard of call activity — queue depth, wait times, who's on what — usually on a screen where the whole team can see it.
VoIPVOICE OVER INTERNET PROTOCOL
Phone calls carried over the internet instead of copper. The umbrella term for how all modern business telephony works — including Barbary Connect.
VPN breakout
Routing SIM traffic from a private APN directly into your corporate network over an encrypted tunnel — devices behave as if they were plugged in at HQ.
Missing a term?
Tell us what confused you and we'll add it — that's how most of these got here.