VoIPisms! What An ATA Is And Does

Acronyms are everywhere these days. Especially on social media with acronyms like BRB (be right back), LOL (laugh out loud), and DM (direct message). Acronyms can even pop up in the business world with clever terms like MTD (month to date), ETA (estimated time of arrival) and OOO (out of office).

When it comes to the VoIP world, you will see acronyms like DID (direct inward dialing), FXO (foreign exchange office), FXS (foreign exchange station) and more telecommunications terms.

But, knowing what VoIP terms stand for and knowing how they can help businesses and residential customers can be two different things! Luckily, we speak VoIP! In our new series, VoIPisms we are going to be demystifying common VoIP acronyms and terms from A to Z! First up we explore what an ATA is.

ATA – Analog Telephone Adapter

It sounds pretty simple, right? But what does it do? An ATA, or analog telephone adapter, is a device that’s used to connect your old analog telephones or fax machines to a VoIP network. If you are looking to start using VoIP but you’re not comfortable getting rid of your old analog phones yet, this is the device that you’re going to want to start looking into. These devices are pretty small and compact. Small enough to fit in your pocket!

A good example of how small ATA’s can get would be the Grandstream HT802. The Grandstream HT802 is an advanced 2-port ATA that is packed into an award winning stylish compact design. Grandstream’s HT802 has market leading VoIP features and functionalities that are suitable for residential and business deployment.  You can watch VoIP Supply unbox the new Grandstream HT802 here.

If you’re looking for more information on how ATA’s actually work, you can download our free Buyer’s Guide! You can purchase Grandstream’s HT802 ATA here. If you have more questions about ATA’s, VoIP products or services feel free to give the VoIP Supply experts a call at (800) 398-8647, or visit voipsupply.com