A Networking Primer

Before you set up your ATA router it would be helpful to know why some things are the way they are. If you just want to know what to do then please feel free to jump to the Next Page.

The way in which you connect an ATA to the Internet will depend on your Internet connection, your local network, and whether or not you travel and want to take your telephone connection with you.

How does a Router work?

Your telephone service is called Voice over IP. That means that calls are sent over your IP connection on the Internet, as explained on a prior page.

Every device on the Internet must have an IP Address. A router allows several computers, each with a Private IP address, to appear on the Internet using one Public IP address. The router attaches a data Header to each transmission that identifies the sending computer.

In the network defined in the chart below the public address of the router is 69.25.123.21. When you request a page from a Website the Web server would send the page to the IP address 69.25.123.21. When the router receives the reply it decodes the header and directs the packets to the correct computer.

In the case of VoIP, your ATA is just one more device sharing the Internet connection. Circuitry within the ATA ensure that calls are switched between your router and your VoIP provider's servers.

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