Structured Cabling - Clearwater, Florida

Analog Port or Device - A place on a system to connect a device that is not digital, it transmits or uses electronic signals that are not data, but are like sound waves traveling to stereo speakers or standard telephone lines. Fax machines, cordless phones, home phones, credit card machines and modems are analog devices.

CLEC - Competitive Local Exchange Carrier: companies providing telephone lines and internet services at much lower prices than Verizon. Call COAST for details.

Computer Network Cabling and Certification - A data cable that contains 4 pairs of twisted wires in a common jacket, referred to as 10/100 or gigabit cable, Cat5E, 6 or Ethernet. There is very little difference between Cat5e, 5E and Cat6 as they are all only rated for gigabit Ethernet. Cat5E has what is called more headroom than Cat5 and Cat6 more than 5E. Headroom is the amount of data a cable can carry over its rated amount. Look at it like a water pipe. A one-inch water pipe can supply enough water for the average house, but if you ran a two-inch pipe to that same house it could carry more water than needed, but you wouldn’t really care because the one inch was enough. For those really desiring headroom they should consider fiber optic cabling. There are very specific methods of installation and COAST is one of the few companies in Tampa Bay that uses a $5,000.00 certifying tester to test all cables installed. We can even test cables installed by others for a reasonable price. The average price of a non-plenum Cat5e cable is about $90.00.

Digital System Port - A place on a system to connect a digital, multiline system telephone. All system telephones are proprietary, i.e., if you have a Samsung system, you can only use a Samsung phone, Nortel on Nortel, etc. Plus the model needs to be correct, as in an old 816 Samsung phone will not work on a new OS system. Please call COAST for compatibility questions.

E-mail Gateway or Unified Messaging - The ability of a voicemail system to send a copy of your voicemails to your e-mail, anywhere in the world. You can check your voicemails when you check your e-mails, thus saving you time and the cost of a call and the time to wait for your voicemail to answer and logging in and so forth.

Employee Monitoring - The ability of a selected phone, or group of phone users to monitor the conversations of others for legitimate purposes, without any sign of intrusion whatsoever. (Can be allowed or dis-allowed as per programming.)

Fiber Optic Cabling - Cable that looks much the same as copper communications cable but instead of copper it is a special flexible glass. It is primarily used for linking one end of a long building to the other because of the 100 meter limitation of Cat5, 6 and 7 data cables. Also running underground between buildings as fiber will not conduct electricity, thus protecting your computers from surge harm. Fiber is usually cost prohibitive for normal network applications because it can cost 4 times then that of Cat5-7 applications (about $300-400.00 per normal office length run). Outdoor/ underground or aerial applications can be $15.00- $30.00 per foot or more.

Interconnect - Coast Communications is an interconnect company. We sell equipment and wiring that connects you to service providers.

KSU - Key Service Unit, the box that contains the circuits and memory that controls telephone systems.

Line or Trunk - A circuit from a service provider that has dial tone on it and a telephone number.

Loudspeaker Paging or Ringing - Most telephone systems have the ability to add a speaker paging system. The user accesses the system by lifting the telephone receiver, pressing a feature key or dialing a code, making the announcement, then hanging up. Also a few systems such as Samsung can put a incoming call ring tone over that paging system that can be toggled on or off by the user by pressing a key on the telephone. Music can also be played on these speakers by adding and background music interface that will accept a range of player devices such as CD, MP3 or radio.

MAC - Move Add or Change. Services that are not free to customers after the sale, moving phones or equipment to new locations, changing the way the system works or its size.

Music or Advertising On Hold - Most telephone systems allow you to plug in a music source so that callers here your music on hold. There may be some legality to re-broadcasting a radio station so it is best to get a professional player that includes licensed to you music. It will also allow you to create your own commercials using the voice talent of an employee or have a professional program created for you. If you do not want to get a professional player, we will add a cable to your system. This will plug directly into the headset jack of any player that you provide. The music source can be as simple as your baby singing into a $10.00 Radio Shack recorder. Professional players cost between $200.00 and $400.00.

Off Hook Voice Announce - The ability to call from one system telephone to another, via the press of a button, with the ability of the called party to respond to the caller by merely speaking toward the phone (hands-free) while still on the phone to another party.

Station - A phone, or device, that can be used in conjunction with a system. A station is usually a digital phone made specifically for a brand of phone system, just as a PC is a station on a network.

Surge Protection - Devices that protect systems from surges on power lines and/or phone lines, no equipment warranties protect against these, many devices work very well against surges. COAST always provides some type of surge protection as a standard feature; very effective surge protection with lifetime warranty against surges costs extra.

T1 or PRI Circuit - A digital communications circuit, that can provide up to 24(t1) or 23(PRI) lines for voice calls or data at a discount below regular analog lines. T1’s carry number only CID info; PRI’s carry both name and number. Call COAST for details.

Voice Line or Cable - A circuit that carries human speech via electrons.

Voice Over IP (VoIP) - A means to talk to anyone in the world for free over the Internet, or allow users to access company phone features and lines from on the road or at home. Additional equipment and Internet connection is needed by both parties. Each voice conversation uses up 50-100 meg of bandwidth from your Internet connection. It is usually best to have a second dedicated Internet connection at the business if you are going to have multiple outside workers. Many systems require that a special type of network called a VPN (virtual private network) be used for IP phones. Samsung and Nortel do not. All they need is a public or static IP address so that remote phones can access the business telephone system. DSL or T1’s are the best for IP phones; Cable modem is not recommended, as there can be issues with the amount of open ports you will need for IP calls and features, but can be used if that’s all you have. Specifically, ADSL is the best type of DSL as it allows for equal upload and download speeds. All T1’s have equal up and down speeds of 1.55 MB.

Please call COAST for advice, as we have implemented several VoIP applications that have been working perfectly for well over a year. We can also provide you Internet service.