When to use a Gateway or an ATA

This guide is used to help the user decide whether to use a Gateway or ATA.

Prerequisites

• None

Introduction

Gateways and ATA's may look similar but they serve 2 different functions. If you have an existing PBX that does not directly support a SIP trunk, you will want to use a gateway to connect with us. If you already have an existing Domain and have a few analog devices that you still need to support, then you would be looking at deploying an ATA for those devices. 

Gateway

A Gateway allows you to connect your legacy PBX with a SIP Trunk. You will need a gateway that uses FXS (Foreign Exchange Subscriber) ports to connect with. Your legacy PBX would then connect into the Gateway which would be setup with a SIP trunk connection that communicates with us.

This method will allow you to keep your current infrastructure, user extensions, IVR setup, etc. and be able to take advantage of the benefits we offer with a SIP connection.  

ATA

An analog telephone adaptor or ATA is typically used for single devices that need to connect with us. The most common use is for residential users who wish to keep their existing phones. 

ATA's will use an FXS port and will require an ethernet connection to connect with the domain. The domain will need to be set up with a user and an available extension to assign the ATA to.