This is a list of telephony terminology and acronyms which relate to telephony networks.
A Advanced Intelligent Network, (AIN), see also IN or Intelligent Network Automatic number announcement circuit (ANAC) Automated Attendant ACD - Automatic Call Distribution Articulation score
B Blue box - a device that was used to bypass the normal long-distance call switching tones typically used to obtain free calls.
C Call originator - (or calling party, caller or A-party) a person or device that initiates a telephone call by dialling a telephone number. Call waiting - a system that notifies a caller of another incoming telephone call by sounding a sound in the earpiece. Called party - (or callee or B-party) Caller Calling party Conference call (multi-party call) COCOT Cut – unexpected, and usually sudden, termination of call, line or service
D Dial peer Dial tone Distribution frame Dual-tone multi-frequency signaling (DTMF)
E Emergency telephone number End instrument Engset calculation Erlang unit
F Fax - (contraction of facsimile) a device connected to the telephone network to enable documents to be scanned and sent to a receiving fax machine Frame - A distribution frame, a set of open wiring racks where circuits are cross connected to trunks and equipment
H Handoff Handover Help desk Howler tone (see ROH tone) Hunt Group
I Infrastructure Intelligent Network (IN) Interface functionality Inside plant Intelligent Network Interface Device (iNID) - replaces the Network Interface Device outside a subscriber's house like when customers subscribe to AT&T's U-verse brand of services. Interactive voice response (IVR) ISDN User Part (ISUP)
L Line Local loop Long-distance operator
O On-premises wiring Operator assistance Outside plant
P PAM - Pulse Amplitude Modulation used to convert an analog signal to digital representation of the analog signal in each channel of a "D" Type carrier system PCM - Pulse Code Modulation is a modulation scheme used to transmit digital binary data in a T1 system Permanent signal Person-to-person Plain old telephone service, or "POTS" Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) Pupinization
R Receiver Off-Hook tone (ROH) Red telephone box Red box Regional Bell Operating Company (RBOC) Ringer equivalency number (REN) Ringing signal Rural radio service
S Smartphone Station-to-station Signalling System 7 (SS7)
T Tandem signaling Tandem switch Transaction Capabilities Application Part (TCAP) Telemarketing Telephone Telephone booth Telephone call Telephone card Telephone directory Telephone exchange Telephone tapping Teletraffic engineering T1 - Digital PCM (pulse code modulated signal) transmission system based on 1's and 0's and a speed of 1.544mbps Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) Toll-free_telephone_number (TFN) A telephone number that is billed for all arriving calls, but free for the calling party. Trap and trace TWX
U USOC Universal Service Order Code
V Vertical service code Voicemail Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
W Western Union Wide Area Telephone Service (WATS) WATS line Wireless network Wireless Telephony Applications Interface (WTAI) Wi-Fi
Z Zenith number
Acronyms